Referee who gave Benfica a soft penalty to officiate Sporting v Porto | OneFootball

Referee for Sporting - Porto with a questionable track record; Judge has already invented a penalty in favor of Benfica

The Refereeing Council of the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) announced this Wednesday, August 27, the refereeing team appointed for the fourth round of Liga Portugal Betclic. João Gonçalves was chosen to officiate the match between Sporting and Porto.

The referee from the Porto Football Association was selected as the main referee for the clash and will be assisted by Ângelo Carneiro and Pedro Ribeiro. The fourth official will be José Bessa, while the VAR will have the contribution of Rui Costa. Paulo Brás will serve as AVAR.

It should be recalled that, last season, Benfica beat Rio Ave 3-2 in the 26th round of Liga Portugal Betclic. The reds were awarded a penalty, but the experts were unanimous. Even with access to VAR images, João Gonçalves decided to invent a penalty in favor of the reds.

"António Silva, with both hands, blatantly pushed Clayton. A free kick that should have been signaled, especially since it preceded the goal-scoring play," said Jorge Coroado to the newspaper O Jogo. "At the start of the play, António Silva pushed Clayton. The Benfica player even stepped back, expecting the foul to be called. Direct free kick not awarded," said José Leirós, with Fortunato Azevedo sharing the same opinion as his two colleagues: "António Silva, with his arms on the opponent's back, pushes and prevents Clayton from playing the ball. Foul that went uncalled" (Recall the controversial incident HERE).

The green and white team will return to the field next Saturday, August 30, against Porto. The match, counting for the fourth round of the National Championship, against the team led by Francesco Farioli, will be played at 8:30 pm, in Alvalade.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.