Arthur Cabral, Fiorentina’s replacement for Dusan Vlahovic, arrived from FC Basel in the final days of the January transfer window.
Within a month, Cabral has managed to find himself trending, albeit for all the wrong reasons.
During his unveiling press conference, Arthur Cabral was allegedly seen making questionable gestures towards Rossella Petrillo, the head of communications of the Italian club. Soon the trending video was subjected to heavy scrutiny across social media.
The Brazilian was sitting right next to Petrillo and apparently used his lips in an obscene manner, as the Italian was communicating with the reporters.
Quite obviously, the incident didn’t go unnoticed on Twitter, as people criticized the new striker’s lustful gaze.
Arthur Cabral as subtle as they come. pic.twitter.com/2E4kJegbFU
— Sporting Minute (@sportingminute) February 17, 2022
Caught in 4K pic.twitter.com/CpcGGmttDu
— Troll Football (@TrollFootball) February 18, 2022
While Cabral has made no comments on the incident, Rossella Petrillo, on the other hand, took to Instagram and defended the former Basel striker.
In a short note on her Insta stories, the press officer stated how such controversies are only created when women in the footballing world are seen as nothing but an object of desire or a distraction, rather than an ordinary working person.
She further noted that while most people saw this as something “rotten,” she only sees “people working”.
Here’s the full translation of Rossella Petrillo’s statement below – “that video creates controversy because you are victims of an unrealistic vision that wants the woman in the world of football (and not only) the object of desire, a distraction instead of a person with whom to share a work environment. While you find something rotten and make allusions that do you no honor, I see people working.”
