Seedorf given red card for leaving the wrong way

CLARENCE Seedorf was surprised by a referee’s decision to send him off for leaving the field the wrong way after being substituted in a Brazilian match.

The Dutch midfielder was heading toward his team’s bench in stoppage time of Botafogo’s 2-1 win over Madureira in the Rio de Janeiro state championship on Sunday when the referee stopped him and pointed toward the nearest sideline to save time. But Seedorf refused, prompting the first yellow card. As the referee was putting the card back in his pocket, Seedorf turned around and sprinted toward the bench again, upsetting the official further and leading to the second yellow and eventual red card. “Why can’t I go out the other way?” the 36-year-old Seedorf asked. “I didn’t understand anything.”

Referee Philip Georg Bennet said in his post-match report that Seedorf described his request to leave the field through the near sideline a joke, and that the player said he would leave “anywhere he wanted.”

Botafogo club directors yesterday dismissed the referee’s claims in the report and said the team’s legal department would likely contest the red card. Botafogo coach Oswaldo Oliveira lamented the referee’s decision. “Seedorf is shaken by what happened,” he said.

The four-time Champions League winner had earlier set up Botafogo’s first goal and scored the second.