A Brazilian footballer has been arrested and charged with attempted murder for kicking a referee in the head while he was on the ground.

Rodrigo Crivellaro was brutally attacked by the Sao Paulo RS player William Ribeiro, tumbling to the turf before getting a boot square to the upper neck and head, which left him unconscious.

The attack happened during the second half between Sport Club Sao Paulo and Guarani-RS in Brazil on Monday, reported CNN.

Referee Crivellaro was immediately escorted to the hospital in an ambulance, and released on Tuesday after having been examined in the hospital:

“I don’t really remember [what happened]. My refereeing colleagues told me that I gave him a yellow card. He punched me in the face, I fell to the ground, got kicked, and passed out,” Crivellaro told a local radio station.

“This player needs treatment because he is totally out of control. He deserves to be arrested for a long time.”

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Obviously, the rest of the game was instantly abandoned with players having to restrain Ribeiro from launching another attack on the grounded official:

In a phone interview with CNN, Vinicius de Lourenco de Assuncao, who is the police chief of Venancio Aires and made the preventive detention of William Ribeiro, said the footballer had been released from jail on Tuesday.

A footballer in the Brazilian lower league identified as William Ribeiro has been arrested by the Police for physically assaulting a referee during a football match. According to reports the culprit, attacked Rodrigo Crivellaro just shortly after Sao Paulo conceded the openi… pic.twitter.com/SJuOtgO4jw

— 231base ✪ (@231BDN) October 5, 2021

Sports Club Sao Paulo denounced Ribeiro, saying that it is “deeply ashamed” of the aggression and ended Ribeiro’s contract pretty much on the spot:

“The aggressor athlete’s contract is summarily terminated. Furthermore, all possible and legal measures in relation to the fact will be taken,” wrote the team in an official note.

Ribeiro hasn’t said anything about the incident yet and apparently only has a public defender for the attempted murder case.