After suffering a 2-1 loss to Santos on Sunday, Corinthians'
star striker Ronaldo left the field with injury aggravated.
Ronaldo complained about the calls from the referees as well as the
unprofessionalism of some of the Santos players.
Sunday's 11th round match in the Sao Paulo state championship began tense
and escalated into the second half when two Corinthian players were ejected
from the match: Roberto Carlos and Moacir.
“With a one-goal lead and a two-player advantage, I saw some of the young
players at Santos trying to show off. As a professional, you need to respect
your opponents and play with class. However, they are still young and have a
long way to go. Neymar played with class, but the message is for his
teammates," claimed Ronaldo.
As the game was getting physical towards the end of the second half, referee
Jose Henrique de Carvalho seemed to lose his cool and began to expel members
of the visiting team.
"Once the ball began rolling, we were at a disadvantage. I suffered a hard
foul in front of the referee and his assistant. Even with four assistants,
not one referee called a foul. He made lots of mistakes on both sides of the
ball, but we suffered the most. The result of the game is not what he
expected, but our heads are held high because we know that we played our
best,” added Ronaldo.
In closing, Ronaldo reminded the Santos that they began the 2009 state
championship well, but ended up losing the title at the hands of Ronaldo and
Corinthians.
He promised that at the end of the tournament he and his team will be in the
finals and questioned whether or not Santos will be too.
After 11 rounds of play in the Sao Paulo state championship, Santos remains
in first place with 28 points. With their loss, Corinthians drops two
positions and now stands in fifth place with 19 points.
In the next round of play, Corinthians will host Botafogo-SP on March 4
while Santos will travel to play Paulista on the same date. |
