António Salvador gifted penalty, still slams Sporting-Braga refs | OneFootball

The president of Braga, António Salvador, released an official statement on Monday, October 6, expressing three concerns directed at entities and leaders of Portuguese football. The note addresses issues such as refereeing, the communicational environment surrounding the sport, and the competitiveness of national football.

The first point focuses on the refereeing of the game between Sporting and Braga, played at Alvalade, counting for the eighth round of the Betclic League. Salvador regretted the lack of consistency in the criteria of the VAR and main referee's decisions. The leader pointed out specific cases from the match, referring to the "non-expulsions of Morita (5’ and 21’) and Debast (49’ and 80’)" and alleged "holds by Maxi Araújo and Hjulmand" that were not sanctioned.

In the second point, António Salvador denounced what he classified as “communicational terrorism” promoted by Sporting, Porto and Benfica and amplified by the media. The Braga leader stated that the public debate about Portuguese football “has gone back decades” and called for a firm intervention from the Portuguese Football Federation to stop the “toxic environment” that, according to him, has settled in the national panorama.

Finally, the president of Braga once again warned of the “loss of competitiveness” of Portuguese football in the European context. He reminded that Braga had to play six games to secure a place in the Europa League and warned that Portugal could be overtaken by Belgium in the UEFA ranking. António Salvador appealed to Liga Portugal to transform the “Goal 2028” project into concrete measures, advocating for the centralization of television rights and the revision of competitive frameworks.

“Portuguese football has a golden opportunity to evolve. It's time for the League to act with courage and make decisions that will shape the future of the coming decades”, he concluded, a day after the controversial goal scored by the Minho team in the duel against the lions.

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