Corinthians midfielder slams refs after Copa loss, eyes return with Fiel | OneFootball

Throughout Sunday night (2), Corinthians faced Internacional at Beira-Rio Stadium in the first leg of the 2026 Copa do Brasil round of 16 and ended up losing 2-0. With the result, Timão must win by at least two goals in the return leg to take the tie to penalties, and by three goals to advance in regular time.

Moments after the final whistle, still on the pitch, Rodrigo Garro gave an exclusive interview to Amazon Prime and fired criticism at the refereeing. The number 8 criticized the way the referee treated the team, but chose not to go into detail about what he heard on the field. Then, the midfielder lamented the defeat and stressed that Alvinegro Paulista still has 90 minutes to fight for qualification.

Photo: Ricardo Duarte/Internacional

“We have to talk about the way we’re treated and how the referee speaks to us. We have to measure how the referee speaks. We have to be careful about how we speak to the referee, and he has to be careful too. It’s us with the referee, and the referee with us, for better Brazilian football. I’ll keep to myself (what was said), for all of us. I don’t want to talk because I’ll get sent off for speaking,” said the Argentine.

“I think today was a game where the result didn’t reflect how the game went. We couldn’t get the win in a knockout match. We still have 90 minutes, we’re going to play at home with the support of our fans. We are at a very big club, now it’s about talking less and working more, the way we’ve been working, knowing that there are still 90 minutes left,” he added.

Corinthians currently has R$ 5 million accumulated in Copa do Brasil prize money — R$ 2 million just for taking part in the fifth stage and R$ 3 million for reaching the round of 16. If the team advances to the quarterfinals, it will earn another R$ 4 million. Timão will return to the pitch to face Internacional in the second leg of the competition next Thursday (6) at 8 p.m. at Neo Química Arena.

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