Corinthians striker Willian Borges, a former English Arsenal and Chelsea player, asked the Brazilian authorities on Tuesday to act against violence in football, after the serious attacks last week on several teams in the country.
“I hope that the authorities can, once and for all, do what they have to do. We enter the field, we do what we can, but we can’t control these types of situations, ”said the Brazilian winger in a video shared on his social networks.
Borges, 33, denounced that violence in football is a “very serious issue” that even today “many people see as something normal” and complained of the lack of forcefulness when it comes to punishing offenders.
“Nothing is wrong with them. They continue doing, doing, doing and Brazilian soccer tolerates it, the authorities tolerate that. And if we tolerate it, we can’t complain. That has to stop,” he said.
The attacker, who became a regular in the calls for the Brazilian team, thus referred to the latest episodes in Brazilian football, which have resulted in some players having to receive medical attention in a hospital.
The first of them took place last Thursday, when two Bahia players were injured after an explosive device was thrown at the team bus on its way to the Arena Fonte Nova stadium, in Salvador (northeast).
Last Saturday, the Gremio bus was stoned by fans of Internacional, its closest rival in Porto Alegre, also leaving several players from the squad injured, including Paraguayan Mathías Villasanti and Colombian Jaminton Campaz.
In Curitiba, a group of Paraná fans invaded the Vila Capanema field on Saturday five minutes from the end of the match against Francisco Beltrao’s Uniao, who were losing 1-3, with the intention of attacking their team’s players.
“I am here to say that we need to be outraged. We, players, have to get together and unite to combat violence in football,” Borges said.
