São Paulo forward Luis Fabiano admits getting booked on purpose

São Paulo forward Luis Fabiano has admitted purposely getting booked during his side’s 4-0 win over Botafogo last night, which he found harder to do than scoring.

The 31-year-old, who put his side ahead after just five minutes of play at the Morumbi, deliberately got himself booked in the second half of the game, in order to earn an automatic suspension for a third yellow card.

The former Sevilla striker will now miss the Tricolor Paulista's long trip to Salvador for a match against Bahia on Sunday.

Luis Fabiano said: "When I want to receive a yellow card, nobody gives me one, and when I don't want one, they rain down on me.

"I wanted to sit out the Bahia game. It's a long journey and I've just come back from injury, I wanted to prepare myself for the sequence of games we have coming up."

Coach Ney Franco admitted asking Luis Fabiano to get himself booked which he eventually achieved by dallying over a throw-in.

"I asked him to force the yellow card. He took a long time to take a throw-in and the rule is clear, he has to be booked," said the coach.

Players have been disciplined and suspended in other countries for deliberately getting booked, but the practice is regarded as cunning in Brazil.

Luis Fabiano was making his 200^th appearance for São Paulo and scored his 10th goal of the Brazilian championship, which has left him as joint top goalscorer alongside Fred of Fluminense.

Lucas, who will join Paris Saint-Germain in 2013, Osvaldo and Cicero wrapped up the victory over Clarence Seedorf’s Botafogo, which keeps them in fifth place.

Luis Fabiano, who has not played for Brazil since the 2010 World Cup, re-joined the club for the third time in 2011, for a fee believed to be in the region of €7.6 million, and recently became their 7th top goalscorer in history.