Vasco boss: Barros red card ridiculous, ref got it wrong

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Papo na Colina

·22 January 2026

Vasco boss: Barros red card ridiculous, ref got it wrong

Vasco da Gama left Maracanã defeated and deeply irritated with the refereeing in the derby against Flamengo. After the 1-0 loss this Wednesday (21), coach Fernando Diniz used the post-match press conference to protest against the straight red card shown to midfielder Cauan Barros, which occurred right at the start of the second half.

+ Flamengo beats Vasco 1-0 at Maracanã in a derby marked by refereeing controversy

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“Nonsense”

Diniz was blunt in his analysis of the incident, completely disagreeing with referee Bruno Arleu de Araújo’s interpretation. The coach argued that there was not enough intensity to justify a straight red card:

“For me, it’s a ridiculous sending off, total nonsense. Honestly, I still can’t understand it. The guy is running by, I don’t know if Barros tried to give him a little ‘tap’. There’s nothing there, no excessive force, no risk of injuring the player, nothing. Then there’s a camera angle they use, they freeze it, with Barros’s boot near the calf… There’s no force at all, zero. It’s a sending off that really conditions what could have been the second half.”

Diniz before the match started – Photo: André Durão / ge

Vasco’s coach points to lack of consistency

The Vasco manager also pointed out the inconsistency in the refereeing decisions, comparing his player’s sending off with a foul suffered by Andrés Gómez in the first half, which, in his view, was ignored or punished less harshly. Diniz concluded with a harsh prediction about the level of refereeing in the country:

“There was an incident a little earlier in the first half, with Andrés Gómez, where the guy kicks high and hits his foot… I don’t even think that was a sending off, but Barros’s was much less. You’ll see as the championship goes on, both Carioca and Brasileiro, the criteria won’t be the same. An incident like this won’t lead to a sending off. With that level of forcefulness, with that eagerness to send someone off, it’s going to be very hard to see that happen again.”

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