A number of Corinthians staff members tried to storm the VAR room during their Brasileiro Serie A clash against Gremio – and the entire thing was caught on camera.
It was an eventful opening 10 minutes or so at the Arena do Gremio stadium in Porto Alegre.
Corinthians defender Matheus Bidu was denied an early penalty by the referee, who soon handed Bruno Mendez a straight red card after checking the incident on a pitchside monitor.
As a result, Corinthians' Director of Football Alessandro Nunes and his colleagues wanted answers, so they tried to enter the VAR room with force.
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Nunes even approached a journalist, who was documenting the unfolding events. You can watch the remarkable scenes below:
As quoted by Brazilian newspaper O Globo via Yalla Live, Nunes said on the incident: “This was my way of protesting against the absurdity of the VAR referee.
"It does not help the field referee. There was a clear penalty, how long will we continue to see these mistakes?”
Nunes added: “Years go by, presidents of the referees’ committee change, but we still see the same mistakes. I am not excusing my actions, I made a mistake and my behavior was inappropriate.
"But what is more inappropriate and unfortunate is that the VAR referee remains in front of the screen, watching the event several times, and not helping the field referee. We just want equality.”
Rafael Traci, who was in the VAR room when the incident occured, said: "He [Pedro] puts his arms on his [Bidu] body, he even has contact with the player’s leg, but that doesn’t make him fall, this contact doesn’t make the player fall."
Another VAR official added: "He delays his step for the fall."
Despite the complaints, Corinthians went on to secure a hard-fought 1-0 over Gremio thanks to a 32nd minute goal from Angel Romero.
Jack Kenmare