Diogo Luís slams Benfica chief: Blames failures on refereeing decisions | OneFootball

The arrival of Frederico Varandas, André Villas-Boas, and Rui Costa to Portuguese football brought the promise of a new culture in Portuguese football, but, according to Diogo Luís, the results have fallen short of expectations. The former Eagles player criticizes the three presidents and says that the top leader of Benfica, like his counterparts, tries to justify sporting failures by criticizing refereeing.

“Whenever a title is at stake, the presidents appear in the public space to attack their rivals (...) All three frequently demonstrate an enormous thirst for power and resort to populist speeches that fuel passion through hatred of the opponent. At the end of matches, they appear to pressure referees and, indirectly, to justify their failures with refereeing decisions,” he wrote in the newspaper ‘A Bola’.

The author emphasizes that, on the sporting level, both Benfica, Sporting, and Porto continue to adopt inflammatory rhetoric: “A president of a major club cannot behave like a fan with a microphone. He must be someone rational, with emotional control and awareness of the impact of his words on football and society.”

Diogo Luís also acknowledges progress in the financial management of Sporting and Porto: “Frederico Varandas and André Villas-Boas have shown a more rational approach in resource management. They seek to reduce unnecessary expenses, regain credibility with financial markets, and implement more professional management models.”

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