Casares wants Abatti Abel barred from São Paulo matches, suggests refereeing fixes | OneFootball

The refereeing controversies of the Choque-Rei on October 5th continue to echo in Morumbi. In a press conference held this Tuesday at SuperCT, the president of São Paulo, Julio Casares, made it clear that he no longer wants referee Ramon Abatti Abel to officiate the team's matches.

Ramon Abatti Abel and video referee Ilbert Estevam da Silva were suspended by the CBF after the controversies in the derby. São Paulo, which lost 3-2 at Morumbi, complained about at least five incidents where they felt wronged by the refereeing.

“Sometimes I hear many people say that a certain team lacks backstage influence. Everyone suffers from refereeing, so everyone suffers from backstage issues. At that moment when we saw this poor performance, not only from the referee but also from the VAR team, we divided our efforts. The directors attended to the press, and I stayed until midnight talking with the CBF president, Samir Xaud. I want to publicly commend him because he was available at all times and has a vision of what needs to be done, just like Rodrigo Cintra [president of the CBF refereeing committee]. I believe these errors cannot happen again, and the best way to prevent them is not just to suspend and train the referees. I believe that in this particular case, this VAR team and this referee should no longer officiate São Paulo's matches,” emphasized Casares.

São Paulo acted strongly behind the scenes for the release of the VAR audio of the five incidents they considered most controversial in the derby against Palmeiras. Besides Casares' conversation with Samir Xaud, the Tricolor sent a letter to the CBF requesting the conversations between Ramon Abatti Abel and the VAR assigned to the match.

Since Ramon Abatti Abel did not go to the VAR booth to review any of the plays requested by São Paulo, the video referee's audio was not supposed to be released, according to FIFA regulations. However, the CBF managed to get the release, and the audios were released last week. The Tricolor's pressure, therefore, had an effect, which was much celebrated behind the scenes at the club.

“The points will not return. The three points were almost guaranteed because if you have a penalty and play with one more player, it is difficult for another club to get the result. We regret it, we vehemently recorded it, and the CBF took its measures. I think São Paulo managed to break a certain FIFA protocol because we wanted to hear the audios, yes. They came, then one was missing. São Paulo entered this fight in a very strong institutional way for the good of football and for the good of the CBF,” stated the president of São Paulo.

Casares proposes new solutions

In the press conference, Casares also proposed new solutions for dealing with refereeing in light of the recent controversies in the Brazilian Championship. After Grêmio's defeat to Red Bull Bragantino, for example, Tricolor gaucho captain Marlon made a strong outburst after a penalty was awarded against his team and directly called out the CBF.

In this context, then, the president of São Paulo suggested not only the creation of a refereeing ranking but also proposed that media professionals be allowed to interview referees briefly after the matches.

“The solution is the professionalization and renewal of the referee panel. Look, you have rankings for everything. There must be a refereeing ranking. In the press conference, the coach attends to everyone. Why can't the referee attend to the press with four or five questions, in a regulated manner? He also has to face the music, because otherwise, it becomes easy,” suggested the São Paulo president.

Casares also recalled the semifinal of this year's Paulista Championship. On that occasion, São Paulo was eliminated by Palmeiras due to a penalty awarded against Vitor Roque. Subsequently, the Paulista Football Federation (FPF) admitted the error in the call, but the Tricolor had already been eliminated.

“I make mistakes, I apologize. The Federation [Paulista] apologized to me when there was that shameful penalty in the Paulista semifinal [against Palmeiras]. Did my points return? I could have been the champion. We regret this kind of thing, but we have to look forward. What happened is that São Paulo acted quickly, firmly, and strictly, as it will always do in all similar cases,” concluded the president.

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