Paraguayan goalkeeper faces suspension for kicking VAR monitor
Paraguayan goalkeeper Roberto Júnior Fernández, who plays for Botafogo, was reported to the sports justice on Wednesday and could be suspended for up to 180 days for kicking a VAR monitor after a Brazilian league match.
The complaint was made by the Procurator's Office for Sports Justice for a violation of the championship rules regarding the care that players and team members must have with sports facilities.
Last Saturday, after a match played at the Nilson Santos stadium in Rio de Janeiro, which Botafogo lost 0-2 to Internacional, 'Gatito' Fernández violently kicked the VAR monitor located on the field, knocking it down.
The goalkeeper's anger was in response to two alleged errors in the referee review method that would have harmed Botafogo and which, according to the view of some players from the carioca club, were decisive in the result.
However, the reaction of the Paraguayan goalkeeper was not accepted by the Procurator's Office for Sports Justice, which wrote a harsh report about his behavior.
"The team was harmed, its external protection and the screen were scratched, the signal input connection was broken, and after several tests, it will be necessary to replace it with a new equipment that will have to be imported from England", says the report, estimating a cost of approximately $9,500.
According to the rules of the Brazilian Championship, the article that Fernández would have violated by kicking and destroying the VAR equipment implies a suspension of between 30 and 180 days, as well as a fine for the player that can reach 100,000 Brazilian reals (about $18,000).