Rodrygo criticizes refereeing after Brazil’s draw with Spain: “It was ugly”

Scorer of one of Brazil’s goals in the 3-3 draw with Spain this Tuesday, at the Santiago Bernabéu, Rodrygo criticized the performance of referee António Nobre, who refereed the friendly. The Portuguese scored two controversial penalties in favor of the local team and left the Brazilian team scolded.

Real Madrid striker Rodrygo classified the penalties as “dubious” and said that the referee even compensated for Brazil in the end. He gave a penalty in stoppage time, converted by Paquetá, leaving everything equal on the scoreboard.

“We knew it was going to be like this, it was going to be difficult, they touch the ball a lot and try to control the game. And about arbitration, I don’t like talking about it much, I don’t like getting into this controversy. But the penalties were a bit questionable, we saw that afterwards he even tried to compensate for us, because it was ugly. But I don’t want to talk about that anymore, I’m going to talk about the game. We are happy with our commitment, for managing to draw after losing 2-0”, said the player in an interview with SportTV.

“It was difficult to place the marking, against England we managed it when we pressed. And today I think it was only when I scored that we managed to score from the people we trained, otherwise it was difficult. The midfielders on their team have a lot of quality, they move a lot,” he added.

Rodrygo also spoke about the goal scored by Endrick. The 17-year-old striker, already sold to Real Madrid, found the net for the first time at the Bernabéu and saved his second for the Seleção. Furthermore, the number 10 praised Dorival Júnior’s start to his work ahead of Brazil.

“Very well, he came in and scored a goal. It was his first at the Bernabéu too, it’s good for him to get to know him, to see how it works. There were a lot of Real Madrid fans today. He’s already feeling at home, I’m very happy for him”, said the player.

“We are very happy with the work, very excited. Even more with the results come. Sometimes we play well and the result doesn’t come, there’s that bad feeling. We won the first game and now the draw, we wanted to win, but the game the way it was, the draw was very important for our growth”, he added.

With the result, Dorival Júnior ends his first FIFA Date at the head of the Seleção undefeated. He had a win and a draw in two games. Hired to replace Fernando Diniz, the former São Paulo coach is CBF’s big bet to lead the team in the Copa América, which starts in June, in the United States.

The Brazilian team now returns to the field in the friendly against Mexico, scheduled for June 8th. Next, the team faces the United States, on June 12, in a game that precedes their debut in the Copa América, against Costa Rica.