Crystal Palace owner John Textor called Brazilian football into disrepute after slamming ‘f***ing corrupt’ officials during an X-rated post-match interview.
The American businessman bought a 40% stake in Palace in 2021, seeing him also an owner of Ligue 1 giants Lyon and Belgian side RWD Molenbeek. Textor added Brazilian side Botafogo to his football empire in 2022, who are currently top of the league and were six points ahead of second place Palmeiras before they clashed on Thursday.
Following the top of the table six-pointer in which Botafogo surrendered a 3-0 lead in the second-half, as a brace from Real Madrid-bound Endrick fired the visitors to an incredible 4-3 comeback win to close the gap to just three points, Textor completely lost his rag.
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The owner fumed at the officials after Adryelson was sent off following a minute long VAR check with 15 minutes to go and the scores still 3-1 in Botafogo’s favour. Textor produced one of the biggest meltdowns ever as he branded the officials ‘f***ing corrupt’ and called the league "a joke".
Textor ranted: “The whole world saw it, that is not a red card, he got the ball first. If it’s even a foul I’m not sure, it is not a red card – he (the referee) changed the game.” Textor began furiously pointing in the face of the interviewer as he was unable to hold back his emotions as he called for the resignation of the President of the Brazilian Football Confederation, Ednaldo.
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He continued: “This is corruption, this is a theft. Please, fine me Ednaldo but you need to resign tomorrow morning, that’s what needs to happen. This championship has become a joke, nobody deserves this, these players of Palmeiras, they don’t want to win this way, we don’t want to lose this way. It’s like five games in a row.”
As the Palmeiras players left the pitch and walked past Textor, he acknowledged they "played a good game" but claimed the result was "f***ing corruption". He added: “This has to change, Ednaldo you need to resign for the good of the game. It has to be over now. This is theft, fine me, you can red card me, this is my stadium, I’ll still be here.”
Textor ended the interview but remained pitch side as he waited for the officials to leave the pitch, who were reframed from doing so by security after they had moved to protect them from the Botafogo players who stood between the officials and tunnel, blocking their way off the pitch.
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