Jardim confronted Benfica man and snapped: cowards like that (Video) | OneFootball

The first half of the friendly between Benfica and Flamengo (2-1) was marked by an altercation between the two teams’ benches, which even led the referee, Fábio Veríssimo, to step in at a moment when Prestianni was receiving treatment after being brought down by Erick Pulgar. The incident was later explained by Leonardo Jardim, who did not hesitate to call a Benfica staff member a "coward", while saying he "did not know" who it was.

"I’m a calm and respectful person and I do not accept being disrespected"... Cowards are like that, they run away when confronted. I was only asking them not to grab me because the only people who can do that are my wife and my son. I can’t even say who it was," he said in the post-match press conference.

Regarding the high levels of aggression shown on the pitch by the Mengão side, Leonardo Jardim confirmed that Gianluca Prestianni’s introduction had an impact. "Prestianni’s arrival increased the emotional side because of what happened in the recent past (the controversy involving the Argentine and Vinícius Júnior in Benfica-Real Madrid). We do not support what happened, but we were here to play our game against Benfica. We deserved to win. We tried to calm the situation down," he said.

Leonardo Jardim also gave his thoughts on the next edition of the Portuguese League. "It will be a three-way fight, with my Braga always lurking. I hope it will be a good league campaign. The champion changed this year, with Porto winning the title. I hope that this competitiveness among the big three plus Braga provides a good championship for the fans, but with excitement and without incidents, because football does not need incidents," he said.

It is worth recalling that Benfica will return to action at the Algarve Stadium next Friday, July 17, at 7:45 pm, against Villarreal. This will be the Eagles’ final test before the first leg of the Europa League second qualifying round against St. Gallen (July 23, 7:00 pm).

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