For a derby, he's the man: São Paulo v Corinthians gets strict ref | OneFootball

The classic between São Paulo and Corinthians taking place this Sunday (10), in Itaquera, for the Brasileirão, had its referee appointed by the CBF on Thursday afternoon (7), with a name famous for his strictness on the pitch.

The tough and controversial Anderson Daronco, a 45-year-old referee from Rio Grande do Sul, will lead the officiating crew for the Majestoso scheduled for 6:30 p.m. (Brasília time).

As the CBF usually states, the selection of referees is defined taking into account the stages of the competition, the importance and degree of complexity of each match, and the referees’ qualifications, fitness, and technical performance.

This will simply be the third Tricolor derby officiated by Daronco in this Brazilian Championship. First, he refereed the 1-1 draw with Santos at Vila Belmiro, and more recently the 1-0 loss to rival Palmeiras right at Morumbi. Later, he also officiated the 2-0 defeat to Vitória in Salvador.

CONTROVERSIAL HISTORY

Without major controversies in these latest matches, Daronco has already greatly annoyed Tricolor in other games he officiated. The most recent of them was in the 2025 Brasileirão, when the Morumbi club went to Mineirão and lost 1-0 to Cruzeiro. On that occasion, Anderson Daronco’s officiating, despite no direct errors affecting the score, still helped shape the frustrating scenario of São Paulo’s defeat.

His handling was marked by biased decisions, almost always favoring Cruzeiro in doubtful plays. A yellow card shown to Luciano after he suffered the foul illustrates the reversal of standards: while the São Paulo player was duly booked, Cruzeiro’s Villalba escaped unpunished after an aggressive challenge. Five minutes later, he was booked for a hard foul, without needing to be sent off.

Even more absurd was the card shown to Patryck. The match report mentions a “reckless trip,” but the images show it would not have been acceptable even as punishment for dissent, much less for a trip that never happened: number 36 got only the ball. To make matters worse, Wânderson got injured after unintentionally hitting the São Paulo player.

Daronco was also involved in another controversial moment in Tricolor’s recent history. In the second leg of the 2023 Copa do Brasil quarterfinals against Palmeiras, at their stadium, the referee from Rio Grande do Sul disallowed a header scored by Calleri, even after VAR recommended an on-field review of the play, calling a foul by Diego Costa on Zé Rafael.

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