Brazil’s Superior Court of Sports Justice (STJD) has ruled that 22-year-old Internacional defender Victor Gabriel will serve an unprecedented ban following his red card in a top-flight match last week.
Gabriel was sent off in a Serie A fixture against Cruzeiro. His tackle fractured the tibia of former Los Angeles Galaxy star Gabriel Pec, who joined the Belo Horizonte club from the Galaxy as recently as this month.
Pec required surgery after he was injured during his Cruzeiro debut and the severity of the break will directly impact Gabriel too.
‘Disproportionate and reckless’ tackle behind six-month ban
The idea that a player who injures and opponent should be ineligible to play for the same length of time as the injured player has been mooted often but the matter is complicated by the rather obvious fact that even red card tackles that cause serious harm are not always deliberate.
The STJD does legislate for extended bans in Brazilian sport. The Brazilian Code of Sports Justice (CBJD) allows for the offending athlete to be suspended ‘until the injured party returns to training’ in case of serious violent play. Such bans are capped at 180 days.
Gabriel has been handed a ban linked to Pec’s return after charges were filed against him and could be out of action for six months.
“Gabriel was in attendance at the STJD’s committee hearing and said he regretted what happened, had apologised to Pec, and had not intended to cause him harm,” reports The Athletic.
The hearing was muddied by the presentation and subsequent withdrawal of VAR audio as part of the defence compiled by lawyers representing Internacional and their player. The defence team, unable to prove the credibility of the evidence, admitted to submitting audio that was sourced from social media.
Gabriel’s own representation of the incident was unequivocal about his lack of intent. The Inter defender didn’t contest the dangerous nature of the tackle in question but denied outright any suggestion that he had meant to endanger or injure Pec.
“I had the feeling that I would get to the ball first, and I did,” testified Gabriel, as reported by The Athletic.
“Since the field was quite slippery and wet, I ended up hitting the ball and then I didn’t have time to pull my leg back, and that’s how this somewhat harder tackle happened, but without any intention of causing harm to my fellow professional or any malice.”
Gabriel is a central defender who joined the Porto Alegre giants from Sport Recife, initially on loan, in 2024. He made the move permanent in January and has played 22 league games between the national Serie A and Internacional’s unsuccessful regional championship defence.
Friday’s match against Athletico Paranaense, the first game of what is Gabriel’s third Serie A suspension of the season, was Internacional’s fourth consecutive league defeat.
