For an unusual reason, the FPF changed the referee Palmeiras x Ituano in the Paulistão semi-final

The Sao Paulo Football Federation (FPF) announced, on Friday afternoon (17), that it had made a change to the refereeing of the confrontation between Palm trees and Ituano on Sunday (19), at 4 pm (Brasilia time), in Allianz Park, in the semi-finals of Paulista championship.

> Palmeiras x Ituano: Find out where to watch the Paulistão semi-final match

The referee chosen initially was Vinícius Gonçalves Dias de Araujo, but he suffered a meniscus injury during the match between CRB and Operário-MS, last Wednesday (15), for the Copa do Brasil, and the Sao Paulo entity decided to replace him with Flavio. Rodriguez de Souza.

Others scheduled for arbitration will be retained. Soon, the assistants will be Alex Ange Ribeiro and Mauro André de Freitas, and the VAR will take over Rodrigo Garrizo Ferreira do Amaral.

In 2023, Flavio refereed only one match with Palmeiras: a 0-0 draw against São Bento at Allianz, in Paulistao’s debut. On this occasion, Verdao scored two goals, but both were disallowed for offside after confirmation by the video referee, who was led by Rodrigo Garrizo.

Being the first club in history to play in the semi-finals ten times in a row, Palmeiras wants to secure a place in the big decision and win their second state championship. Alviverde is now looking for another win to move closer to his second title of the year. The first was the Brazilian Super Cup against Flamengo.