Following the scandal in Brazilian soccer, Hulk apologized but pointed the finger at “the person primarily responsible for everything.”

The final of the Minas Gerais state tournament ended in scandal. A pitched battle broke out between almost all the players from both teams. Atlético Mineiro, led by Argentine coach Eduardo Domínguez, lost to Cruzeiro 1-0. Thus, the Raposa team was crowned champion. However, the title was overshadowed by what happened at the end of the match: excessive violence with kneeing, punching, flying kicks, shoving, running and threats, which ended with 23 players sent off! Regarding the situation, Hulk, striker and leader of the losing team, apologized and blamed referee Matheu Delgado for everything that happened. "The last play of the match, played at the Mineirão in Belo Horizonte, sparked the scandal. Everson, Mineiro's goalkeeper, saved a ball in a collision with Christian, who was left on the ground, while the goalkeeper rested both knees on his torso in an obvious attempt at aggression. Immediately, a brawl broke out, with pushing, punching, and kicking. What had started in Atlético Mineiro's penalty area spread to the rest of the field. Several players tried to break it up, but the chaos only grew. At one point, there was a confrontation between Argentine defender Lucas Villalba and Hulk, one of the most physically imposing players in Brazilian soccer. The left back—now playing center back—kicked Hulk a couple of times, who responded with a punch and tried to run him over to get revenge, but was stopped by security guards. After the incident, the 39-year-old striker, who has played in Portugal, Russia, Japan, and China, spoke about the violent episode and admitted that he had never been involved in a scandal of this magnitude: "I don't remember ever participating in an act of violence like this in any game I've been in, I don't remember it. It's unfortunate, as I said, and I will never tire of apologizing.“ His apology was not only for not separating them from the outset, but also for the treacherous attack he made on Argentine midfielder Lucas Romero, who was behind Hulk on the field. ”Of course we are defending our colors and we will do so to the death. You try to calm things down, but with your blood boiling at that moment, you see a teammate being attacked and you react. You automatically react because you have to defend your teammate and your team's colors," he continued in front of the microphones. When it came to assigning blame, the striker did not point the finger at goalkeeper Everson or Christian, the two protagonists who started the whole incident between players and supporters of both clubs, but went further and chose a single culprit: "It could have been avoided. I never tire of saying that Matheus, the referee, is primarily responsible for everything that happened, because I had told him at the start of the second half: ‘Matheus, if you don't have control of the game, forget it.’" In the end, Cruzeiro won with a goal from Kaio Jorge 15 minutes into the second half and was crowned state champion. No players were sent off on the field because the action that sparked the brawl was the last of the match, but in his report, referee Matheus Delgado highlighted each of the 23 players he showed the red card to. Among them were Cruzeiro's Argentine players Lucas Villalba and Lucas Romero, and Hulk himself, who once again was very angry with the referee: “You have to show the cards because they started slapping each other, pushing each other, everything... and he just didn't do anything.”