‘Unacceptable’ – Raphinha apologizes for red card but slams referee after Brazil lose to Japan

“First of all, I want to take this opportunity to apologize for my behavior and for being sent off. Sometimes it is difficult to control myself. After, in my opinion, so many mistakes by the referee during the match. I tried to talk to him several times. I never felt that he was open to discussion. I believe he made mistakes at many moments in the match,” he said, according to Globo.

“It’s unacceptable. In my opinion, their first goal was a ball handling foul. There was a penalty in the first half. In my opinion, it was a penalty, but he said it wasn’t. Then, on the third goal, a very clear foul on João. With the help of VAR, he managed to validate the goal. It’s very difficult not to talk about the refereeing.

“We tried from the start of the match, without taking anything away from the things we need to improve. We are growing and we find ourselves after the World Cup. We played a great match. Much better in the second half than in the first, but it’s difficult when you play against the referee, it gets complicated. I’m not here to shift the blame, we need to improve in a lot of areas. And we will improve. But we can’t let the refereeing today go unpunished.”