Santos slams glaring errors and vows formal complaint to CBF

Santos slams glaring errors and vows formal complaint to CBFSantos director of football Alexandre Mattos stepped up his criticism of refereeing in the Brazilian Championship following the club's defeat to Red Bull Bragantino.The executive expressed outrage over incidents he felt had gone against Santos in the last two rounds, particularly in the derby against Palmeiras and the defeat to Bragantino.After the defeat in Bragança Paulista, Mattos spoke to the press in the mixed zone and strongly criticized referee Edina Alves Batista, as well as Flávio Rodrigues de Souza, who officiated the derby in the previous round."We need to put things right, work harder, do what Santos had been doing in other games, and fix whatever needs fixing. That's the first thing we want to say, so we're not making excuses by pointing to other people's mistakes," the executive began. "But there's no denying that Santos are outraged by what's happening, because the last two games were a disgrace. There were appalling mistakes," he blasted.The executive confirmed that the club would not stand idly by and that administrative action was already underway. "Santos will no longer stay silent. Santos have already contacted the CBF. I've just spoken to the people at the CBF myself. We'll do what we can, which is to lodge a formal complaint, and obviously speak to them in person. We'll ask for a different approach toward Santos, which is what Santos demand," he added.Controversial incidentsRegarding the derby against Palmeiras, Mattos went beyond complaining about a possible penalty for Santos, focusing mainly on the failure to send off Palmeiras left-back Piquerez. "Piquerez should have been sent off. A second yellow in the game, absolutely clear-cut. That's why Abel took him off... We don't know what would have happened, but they would have been a man down, and it was clear. I think the referee realized it would mean sending the player off and chose not to apply the rules," he argued.Against Bragantino, Santos' main grievance, echoed by coach Cuca and the players on social media, was the failure to award a penalty for a foul on forward Rony in the second half. Edina Alves Batista's decision was criticized even by PC Oliveira, Grupo Globo's refereeing analyst, who felt there had been a foul."It was reckless. I think Edina said, 'There's VAR, I'll leave it.' I believe the VAR official (Rodrigo Guarizo Ferreira do Amaral) reviewed it and thought it might be an on-field judgment call," Mattos said sarcastically as he wrapped up the interview.This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.