Benfica v Porto: João Pinheiro’s late delay in the Clássico was down to... | OneFootball

The departure of the teams from Estádio da Luz after the classic between Benfica and Porto ended up taking place more than two hours after the final whistle. The delay was due to the time needed to complete the referee's report João Pinheiro, who had to record several incidents that occurred during and after the match.

Initially, the delay had been associated with a meeting between the referee and Lucílio Baptista, former referee and current “mentor” appointed by the Refereeing Council for high-profile matches. However, it was later determined that this meeting did not delay the administrative procedures.

According to the newspaper Record, the main reason for the late departure was the time required to fill out the official match report. The document had to include the various events recorded throughout the match and in the period after the final whistle.

The completion of the report is mandatory before it is signed by the delegates of both clubs, which ended up extending the teams' stay at Estádio da Luz. Only after this administrative process was completed was it possible to finalize the procedures.

Despite the meeting between João Pinheiro and Lucílio Baptista, it was not responsible for the delay in the teams' departure from Luz, which ended up happening after 10 p.m.

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