FC Porto president and coach criticized the refereeing, namely the video referee, after the game with Gil Vicente.
The Portuguese Association of Football Referees (APAF) will file a complaint against Pinto da Costa and Sérgio Conceição with the Disciplinary Board of the Portuguese Football Federation. At issue are the declarations of both after the meeting with Gil Vicente, won by Barcelos by 2-1, with arbitration in sight.
“Given the performances” of yesterday’s FC Porto-Gil Vicente video referee (Tiago Martins) and Saturday’s Vizela-Benfica referee (António Nobre), Pinto da Costa was not mincing words after seeing the dragons lose, at home, with Gil Vicente. “I make a request from here: put an end to VAR”, said the president of the blue and whites, in statements to “Porto Canal”, understanding that “having VAR for some and not for others is the opposite of the truth of the game”. “And if they defend the sporting truth and VAR only works for some and for others it doesn’t work, put an end to VAR, because it is doing nothing if not spending money and distorting the truth of the championship”, he added.
Despite the setback, which left FC Porto eight points off the top of the league, the Estádio do Dragão showed their support for the team. An attitude that, for Pinto da Costa, was the recognition that “the players did their best”, but also “a sign that they know they lost because they had to lose”. “Nine against 11 was an almost impossible mission, especially with the duality that occurred in the sampling of yellow cards, which led to Uribe’s second red”, maintained the leader of the Porto SAD, before insisting on the initial idea. “It’s just analyzing the bids. But I repeat: the great lesson of this day is not from this game, it is to end with VAR. For sporting truth, end with VAR, because VAR is for some and not for others. .. Get over it. What happened is absolutely distorting the truth of the game”, he repeated, before turning the needle to Vizela-Benfica. “We don’t treat the referee for you, we don’t call his attention, we don’t even speak to them. Therefore, I hope that the CA meditates well on what happened on this day and, above all, on the appointments he made, because Mr. António Nobre , as VAR, influenced the result [do Benfica-Vizela], scoring a penalty against Vizela. Now, in Vizela, he was distracted. I must have been reading António Nobre’s verses”, he joked.
Conceição, on the other hand, stated: “It was a night in which everything happened in reverse and in which in the dubious and important bids, there was rigor and visualization, and I think it’s very good, but it has to be for both teams”.
