Brazil defender on Bolivia altitude: “My calf started to tighten” | OneFootball

Alexsandro, defender for the Brazilian National Team, spoke about the impacts of the altitude of over 4,000 meters in El Alto, Bolivia, in the defeat to the home team this Tuesday, during the last round of the South American Qualifiers for the World Cup.

“It’s much harder, at least in my view, for me it was very difficult. After 20 or 30 minutes of play, my calf started to tighten, and my breathing too. Everything was against us, but I managed to be a warrior, stay until the end, help the team defensively to try and get the comeback, but it didn’t happen. I believe overall I played a good game, my teammates too. We left with our heads held high,” Alexsandro told SporTV.

It wasn’t just the altitude that bothered the Lille defender. Alexsandro was also among those who criticized the refereeing of Cristian Garay, who awarded a penalty to Bolivia in stoppage time of the first half after a VAR review.

“Horrible. I don’t think we played badly the whole game, there were better moments and worse moments. Unfortunately, the referee chose to give a penalty that, in our opinion, wasn’t one. He gave it, which made the game even harder. Playing on this field is always more difficult for us, but I believe overall we played a good game,” he said.

“We tried to equalize, unfortunately it didn’t happen. We’re already qualified, but there’s still a lot to improve. Now we’ll have friendlies so we can grow and arrive at the World Cup to become champions,” Alexsandro concluded.

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