Shakhtar Donetsk coach Mircea Lucescu has leapt to the defence of his former player Brandao after the Bastia striker was hit with a custodial sentence for headbutting Paris Saint-Germain's Thiago Motta.
Brandao, 34, was given a one-month prison term and a 20,000 euro fine by a Paris court on Thursday for his assault on Motta, 32, in the players' tunnel after Bastia's 2-0 defeat against the Ligue 1 champions on Aug. 16.
Neither Motta, who was left with a broken nose by the incident, nor PSG pressed charges against the Brazilian, but the police still pursued the matter.
The court justified the severity of its judgement by explaining that the scale of the incident had been inflamed by the widespread online circulation of video footage of what happened, as well as the fact it had taken place inside a sporting arena.
The court also reportedly did not appreciate that Brandao, who was undergoing an operation on the right thigh he injured in training last week that will sideline him for three months, did not attend the hearing. He still has the option to lodge an appeal.
The striker had already seen the French Football Federation Appeals Commission uphold his six-month suspension last week.
Although he did not condone Brandao's actions, Lucescu told Le Parisien that the court's decision could lead to further problems going forward.
"You don't joke around in France. It seems severe to me, because, at heart, it's a sporting problem," the Romanian, who coached Brandao for five years until the player's departure for Marseille in 2009, said.
"And after a football match, there is often an overdose of emotions. No one is in a 'normal' state. Having said that, what Brandao did should be punished and he deserved a long ban. But a prison sentence is something else.
"The decision could be dangerous, because it creates a precedent. Everyone will say: 'Brandao went to prison for that, so that punch or kick deserves as much.' I don't know if that is a good thing. It's never good to hit an opponent, but Thiago Motta didn't even have to go to hospital."
Lucescu -- who took over at Shakhtar in 2004, two years after Brandao's arrival at the Ukrainian club -- added: "He was really a nice boy. Yes, he was a battler on the pitch, but never nasty. Personally, I never had a problem with him. I live in Ukraine where, as you know, there are a lot of problems right now, and now you're talking to me about prison for Brandao. It's very surprising for me."
Brandao only joined Bastia in the summer after a successful two-season spell with St Etienne.
His physicality was often criticised by opposing coaches, and Les Verts boss Christophe Galtier feels his former player became the victim of his reputation.
"When I see the number of delinquents in our country who have a criminal record as long as their arm and have never set foot in prison, I get the impression there was the president of a court who wanted to get himself a player," Galtier told reporters. "He happily got stuck in.
"It's an aberration. When I see everything that happens, with people riding round in stolen cars, who deal in illegal goods, who attack people and who have never set foot in prison.... They wanted to send a footballer to prison, even if I think he won't go, because the president of a court decided to get himself a footballer so that we talk about him. It's pitiful, and it's really not a good thing for our country."
Brandao is not expected to spend time behind bars, with the punishment likely to be reduced to community service.
Speaking to reporters, French Football Federation president Noel Le Graet argued that the issue -- as serious as it was -- should have remained solely within the remit of the sport's disciplinary bodies.
"I think it's harsh, I learned of it this afternoon. I regret there were incidents at the end of a game. A month in prison seems a lot to me, but I think it will be commuted. Perhaps there will be appeals. Speaking personally and not at all for the federation, it seems a lot. It's a judicial case, but it seems harsh," he said.
"I don't want the judicial authorities to be called upon each time there's an incident, even if it's serious. There are already bodies in place to hand out punishments, whether it be a certain number of matches or months. That seems enough to me."