São Paulo director blasts VAR for missed penalty: "No excuse" | OneFootball

Director of football at São Paulo, Rui Costa requested to speak before the press conference of coach Hernán Crespo on Sunday night. The director saw an unawarded penalty and criticized the refereeing, especially the VAR, after the team's elimination against Palmeiras, 2-1, in the semifinals of the Campeonato Paulista.

The incident in question occurred five minutes into the second half, when the score was still 1-0 for Palmeiras. Lucas Moura crossed and the ball hit Gustavo Gómez's arm inside the area. São Paulo players appealed for a penalty, but referee Daiane Muniz was not even called to the VAR booth to review the possible penalty.

“Complaining about refereeing is not something we should trivialize, because it is a human activity. We will always have errors, it's a human issue. What I'm doing here is not complaining about the refereeing because I lost the game. We are complaining about a game that was balanced and at that moment, if a penalty that is evident is awarded, there is no interpretation, the game could have been different, or I could be here qualified. I was not given this opportunity, because there was a definitive error in the process. Today's error has no justification. I repeat, the non-use of VAR has no justification in our view,” stated Rui Costa.

The director made it clear that the complaint was not directed at Daiane Muniz, but rather at the entire refereeing team, which did not recommend reviewing the incident. Thiago Duarte Peixoto was in charge of the VAR.

“I was at the FPF this week and coincidentally, Daiane was in front of me. I told her: ‘I congratulate you personally not because I won, but because you officiated a Premier League-level match, mature, respecting the timing of the game’. And I believe today she did something very similar to that. Therefore, it is not a complaint aimed at a referee who may be the one who has evolved the most in her work. However, she is not alone. Football has evolved, the dynamics of the game have evolved,” emphasized the director.

“It is not possible that the VAR did not recommend that she at least had the privilege to check, five times, ten times, 70 times, that it would be a penalty. And in a game like this where two competent teams face each other, in a single match decision, the refereeing decision becomes absolutely relevant. Therefore, we cannot accept that [it happens] in such an important game. We knew we could reach the final. We cannot make this something common and normal,” continued the director.

The game

Palmeiras opened the scoring seven minutes into the game with Mauricio. In the second half, a few minutes after São Paulo appealed for the penalty, Alviverde scored the second goal with Flaco López. At 20 minutes, Daiane Muniz awarded a penalty against Marlon Freitas, after the midfielder hit Bobadilla's face with his elbow. Rui Costa even admitted that the penalty awarded to São Paulo could be debated.

“The principle of VAR is minimal intervention, but in both incidents, it has to intervene. For me, and I admit without any problem, the Bobadilla incident could be discussed or interpreted, although there is an elbow movement. And the opponent's hand incident, the ball hit the arm, it's a penalty. And if you have to award three, four penalties in a match because of this movement, you have to award them. I don't see similarity between the two incidents,” explained the director.

Crespo avoids commenting on refereeing

After Rui Costa's statement, coach Hernán Crespo finally gave a press conference. When asked about the refereeing performance, he preferred not to elaborate and deflected.

“No, you already know. Or things happen like they did at Morumbi, which was scandalous. I don't talk about refereeing. The game is this. I think the images speak, it touches the hand. She, along with the VAR, chose that it was not so. It's over,” said the coach.

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This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.