Ancelotti sent off as Brazil’s defeat by Japan ends in referee dispute

Carlo Ancelotti said the referee’s lack of experience affected Brazil’s 3-2 friendly defeat by Japan after he and Raphinha were sent off in stoppage time.

The dismissals followed Japan’s third goal, with Brazil protesting that Joao Gomes had been fouled during the attack. Ancelotti was shown a red card after complaining about the incident, while Raphinha was also dismissed.

Speaking at his post-match news conference, Ancelotti said the referee had told him he had failed to control Brazil’s bench.

“Regarding the result, I think we played well for 70 minutes, which is what we want to achieve,” said the Brazil manager. “As part of the test we wanted to carry out, we became more exposed defensively because we wanted to press higher up the pitch.”

Ancelotti said Brazil had struggled at the start of the match, particularly with their defensive organisation.

“I think the analysis of the game shows that we did not start well,” he said. “We did not have the defensive cover we needed and we lacked balance. The team stopped playing because it thought the referee would award fouls.”

Brazil recovered from their poor opening to score twice and level the match. Ancelotti said Endrick then had an opportunity to complete the turnaround late on.

“We managed to score two goals and bring the game level, and we could have won in the final minutes through Endrick,” he said. “It is disappointing that the match ended with this result.”

The Italian also pointed to the positives from a match in which several players made their first appearances for Brazil during the current period.

“There are many positive aspects, and some players played for the first time,” Ancelotti said. “We showed good quality, but the result was affected by the referee’s approach because he was not awarding fouls.”

However, he stopped short of placing sole responsibility for the defeat on the official.

“I do not want to put all the responsibility on him,” Ancelotti added. “This was a high-level match, and he did not have the experience needed to manage a game of this kind.”

Despite the loss, Ancelotti said Brazil had made progress in their efforts to develop the players given opportunities in the current international break. Brazil will face Singapore in another match during the break.

“The objective is to develop the players who are involved,” he said. “We have new players who joined us during this period. I said yesterday that I am happy with the young players, and in March we will reduce the size of the squad a little.”

Ancelotti concluded: “I am satisfied with what we did on the pitch. The start was not good, but we responded well afterwards, managed to equalise and then tried to win.”