Cup derby set for Alvalade after controversy at Estádio do Dragão | OneFootball

This Tuesday, Sporting and FC Porto will face off again in a Classic of Portuguese football, this time for the Portuguese Cup, at the Alvalade Stadium.

In the last meeting between the two teams, for the Primeira Liga, the match ended in a 1-1 draw, with much of the discussion focusing off the pitch.

The match at the Estádio do Dragão was intense and without major incidents during the game, but off the field, several occurrences heated up the atmosphere before the next Classic.

From ball boys holding onto balls to delay the restart to repeated appropriations of the towel at Rui Silva's goal, everything pointed to the controversy extending for several days.

And it was a case of 'said and done', as the day after the Classic, Sporting issued a statement ensuring they would file a disciplinary complaint with the FPF's Disciplinary Council against FC Porto due to these incidents, referring to a “journey to a time that the current FC Porto – certainly by mistake – does not renounce and insists on perpetuating.”

But the episode was still 'cooling down' when a new moment of tension again monopolized the debate in national football.

'Attack' by André Villas-Boas deserved an appropriate response from Frederico Varandas

A week after the Primeira Liga Classic, there was another exchange of barbs between the presidents, this time regarding the match between Sporting and Famalicão, in the following round of the championship, during which a clean goal was disallowed at Alvalade.

FC Porto publicly commented on the refereeing of that match and criticized Sporting's coach, Rui Borges. “After another round of the championship, FC Porto remains ahead of an opponent prohibited by decree from losing points. It seems that someone controls the refereeing in Portugal and it is clearly not its leaders, in a sports season marked by unfortunate cases always in favor of the same ones,” wrote FC Porto in the Dragões Diário newsletter on February 17.

“Unlike what happened in the Azores, when Rui Borges, still stuck in the last century, did not know how to work with new technologies, this time the Sporting coach learned quickly and resorted to the tablet placed in front of his eyes to review the images and defend the existence of a 'clear foul' on Maxi Araújo,” they said about Rui Borges.

The statement also criticized Frederico Varandas, highlighting his “usual absolutions” and describing the Sporting president as “an unaccountable figure in the eyes of the Disciplinary Council,” even when, they say, “he mistreats the President of the Portuguese Football Federation as a minor figure in refereeing at the service of other presidents in the past.”

The president of Sporting did not let the accusations go unanswered, reacting on the same day to the allegations from the emblem of the Invicta city and stating that “whoever writes this statement knows they are lying. The purpose of this statement is not to inform. It is simply to divert attention.”

Regarding the incidents at the Dragão, Frederico Varandas recalled that André Villas-Boas is part of a UEFA committee and challenged the Porto leader.

“I would like to ask the president of FC Porto if he suggests, in the elite of football, to steal the balls when winning 1-0. Then, remove the towel from the goalkeeper. Is this what he proposes? In the UEFA Committee? I would make a suggestion to the president of FC Porto. Do this now in the Europa League round of 16. You know that here they play with the Disciplinary Council. The Fábio Veríssimo case seems to be over,” he commented to journalists.

Despite the tension, the Sporting leader assured that he intends for FC Porto to be well received at Alvalade and appealed for restraint: “Sporting fans should not do what FC Porto fans do, interrupting sleep twice. Sporting players don't want that, we don't want that. FC Porto will be very well received, just like any team.”

What to expect at Alvalade in the Portuguese Cup

Despite the off-field controversy, everything indicates that, on the pitch, the teams will respect each other, as it is a knockout stage of the premier competition of Portuguese football – a first leg that will continue at the Estádio do Dragão, in a second match scheduled for April.

Alvalade is expected to offer an intense and emotional game, which, although it will not yet decide the qualification for Jamor, will serve as a prelude to what lies ahead in the second leg.

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