Beaten Manteigas hits out at FC Porto and Villas-Boas again: “To sway” | OneFootball

João Diogo Manteigas, a lawyer and defeated candidate for Benfica’s presidency in the last elections, turned on FC Porto and André Villas-Boas in a social media post. He portrayed the Eagles as the only ones harmed by the partiality of referees and newspaper analysts, criticized what he sees as a pressure strategy by the Dragons, and insisted: “They define targets in order to influence.”

In a speech laden with references to the past of Portuguese football, João Diogo Manteigas sought to outline a pattern of behavior and associate it with FC Porto and its president. The central message is clear: in the former candidate’s view, manipulation is still present and demands a fitting response from Benfica.

When addressing what he believes to be the behavior of the Dragons, Manteigas described a deliberate process thought out over time. For the lawyer, it is a familiar and effective formula in the national context.

“The modus operandi is so clear and obvious that it reeks of the mustiness of the past. They define targets in order to influence. This influence takes time to be planned and applied,” he wrote. “But in Portugal, it bears fruit. History repeats itself. Not everyone can handle pressure. Anyone who thinks Portuguese football, in this regard, ‘will’ or ‘should’ change in the future is mistaken. Even with the much-praised centralization. It is cultural, idiosyncratic. This is national football. It draws audiences. You have to deal with it.”

Manteigas’s reading leaves no room for quick change: the lawyer presents the problem as structural, rooted in the culture of Portuguese football and fueled by the attention it generates. More than denouncing an isolated episode, he seeks to portray a system that, in his view, keeps repeating itself.

At the end of the post, the former candidate also directed his message at Rui Costa. Benfica’s president appears as the recipient of a warning about the need to understand this scenario and respond with equivalent tools.

“Therefore: either you understand ‘the game’ and are prepared to play with weapons of equal or greater caliber... or else it is simply better to make way for those who know how to try to put an end to this mockery,” he concluded.

The message combines an attack on FC Porto and André Villas-Boas with internal criticism of Benfica’s leadership. For Manteigas, accepting the rules of that confrontation or making room for someone willing to face it are the only alternatives on the table.

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