Montenegro blasts refereeing: “Similar calls left us five off top”

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·6 avril 2026

Montenegro blasts refereeing: “Similar calls left us five off top”

Fluminense president Mattheus Montenegro filed an official complaint with the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) this Monday (06), protesting the refereeing in the 1-1 draw against Coritiba last Saturday, in the 10th round of the Brazilian Championship.

The executive was at the entity’s headquarters during a meeting that discussed the creation of a single league in Brazilian football and took the opportunity to formally submit the club’s complaint. Fluminense’s main objection was the disallowed goal scored by Kevin Serna in the first half of the match played at Couto Pereira Stadium.

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In the play, referee Rafael Rodrigo Klein had initially allowed the goal. However, after a recommendation from the video assistant referee, VAR, the official was called to review the play on the monitor and ultimately disallowed the goal for an alleged foul at the start of the move.

In an interview after the meeting, Montenegro said the club felt wronged and criticized the lack of consistency in refereeing decisions.

— Fluminense filed an official letter expressing its dissatisfaction with the refereeing. I came here, spoke with the head of the commission, and we will have a specific meeting to deal with this tomorrow (Tuesday), and Fluminense’s position is very clear. Fluminense was harmed in the match and is fighting for the Brazilian title. We built a squad to compete for every title. We started the round three points behind the leader and ended up five behind because of two very similar plays, except Fluminense’s was ruled out and Palmeiras’ was allowed — said the president.

The executive also stressed that the CBF itself recognizes the need for improvement in the consistency of refereeing decisions, but lamented that the process is slow given the nonstop match schedule.

— They understand that the biggest problem in Brazilian football is this lack of consistency, and we agree. The problem is that this is a long-term process. The commission has been doing a good job, but it is slow work. And there’s a round every week. The club was harmed over the weekend, and next week there’s another match. I’m expressing my dissatisfaction, just as we did formally to the CBF. And we hope this does not happen again, because with how much we work, being harmed in a match like this is very hard to accept. We are very upset — he concluded.

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