"It's ugly and shameful": Bittencourt slams VAR, wants change | OneFootball

The president of Fluminense, Mário Bittencourt, spoke out on social media after the 2-1 defeat to Mirassol this Wednesday (8), in a postponed match from the 13th round of the Brazilian Championship. The executive protested against the refereeing by Rodrigo José Pereira de Lima, especially over the disallowed goal by Lucho Acosta, still in the first half, which could have changed the course of the match.

On social media, Mário vented and harshly criticized the level of refereeing in the country:

“Brazilian refereeing needs to stop and refresh itself. It’s not possible that, round after round, the mistakes are repeated in such an absurd way. I’m not just talking about Fluminense’s matches, but about all the mistakes made every Wednesday and Sunday against all clubs. The lack of criteria is alarming. Each referee officiates in their own way and VAR interferes with decisions on the field at all times. We need standardization of criteria and less interference from VAR in interpretative plays defined by the field referee. The trivialization of VAR is ruining Brazilian football.”

In addition to the criticism, the president called for structural changes and made an appeal to the CBF for the issue to be addressed urgently at the end of the season:

“I request that the CBF, which in such a short time under new management has already shown so many advances and great innovations such as Financial Fair Play and a new calendar, that we can together, at the end of the year (CBF, Clubs, Referees, and Federations), start a process of change in the criteria of Brazilian refereeing, especially regarding VAR. Either we do this, or we will continue as the country that knows the least about how to use VAR in football. It’s ugly and shameful.”

Fluminense returns to the field next Thursday (16), against Juventude, at the Maracanã, for the 28th round of the Brasileirão. The Tricolor will try to get back to winning ways after the bitter result in São Paulo.

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