Abel Ferreira absolved by STJD after disputing referee's expulsion report

In a hearing room in Brazil, a Portuguese coach and a Brazilian referee offered two irreconcilable accounts of a single heated moment — and the tribunal, weighing language, culture, and credibility, chose to believe the foreigner. Abel Ferreira, Palmeiras' manager, was acquitted of misconduct charges stemming from a Copa do Brasil dismissal, escaping a suspension that could have kept him from the touchline for up to six matches. The case turns on something older than football: the difficulty of knowing what was truly said, and by whom, when tempers and tongues collide across cultural lines.