José Mourinho, Rui Costa and António Silva lambast officiating after Casa Pia hold Benfica to 2-2 draw in Lisbon | OneFootball

A stoppage-time goal by 18-year-old Renato Nhaga gave struggling Casa Pia a shock 2-2 draw at Benfica tonight, but all the talk after the match was about the officiating with Benfica president Rui Costa, coach João Mourinho and centre-back António Silva expressing their indignation with the decision to award Casa Pia a penalty. Já lá vamos, but first, how the match unfolded.

José Mourinho has won 6, drawn 3 and lost 3 of his first 12 matches back in charge of Benfica (Photo: Arlindo Homem ©)

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For the third time this season, Benfica conceded an equaliser in stoppage time to drop points in a home game they were expected to win. Although less than one third of the way through the season, six points dropped against Santa Clara, Rio Ave and Casa Pia at the Estádio da Luz could prove costly in terms of mounting a title challenge.

Superbly worked and executed opening goal

After an opening period of complete domination by the hosts, there was little hint of the drama to come. Enzo Barrenechea smashed a long-range effort against the post in the 10th minute and Benfica’s lively attacking play was rewarded with a superb goal soon afterwards.

Dedic crossed from the right, Vangelis Pavlidis controlled the ball with his chest and then cushion-headed it to Georgiy Sudakov, the Ukrainian showing his class with a wonderful first-time volley into the top corner of the net with his left foot.

After the whirlwind start, Benfica slowed down but continued to boss the match, Dodi Lukebakio missing a one-on-one shortly before half time. There was little change to the pattern of the match in the second half, and when Pavlidis scored from penalty spot to double Benfica’s lead after Gaizka Larrazabal had handled in the six-yard box, it appeared game over.

Georgiy Sudakov opened the scoring with a wonderful finish in the first half (Photo: Arlindo Homem ©)

Penalty to Casa Pia, comedy own goal

Two minutes later, however, Casa Pia were also awarded a penalty after António Silva was penalised, also for handball. Anatoliy Trubin dived to his right to make a tremendous save from Cassiano’s spot kick, but from the rebound Tomás Araújo only succeeded to smashing his attempted clearance into the top corner of the net in spectacular fashion.

The home fans were celebrating in the 81st minute when substitute Leandro Barreiro bundled the ball into the net in to apparently restore the Eagles’ two-goal lead, but the midfeilder had strayed offside.

Nevertheless, with Casa Pia failing to muster anything resembling a dangerous attack virtually all night, the match seemed set to peter out into a routine home win.

But another crass mistake by a Benfica player changed that. Richard Ríos lost the ball carelessly in his own half and suddenly Casa Pia had a four versus four break. The cross was swung in, Trubin came out for it but only succeeded in diverting the ball into the path of teenage substitute Nhaga, who gratefully smashed it into the net. 91 minutes on the clock and incredibly the score was 2-2.

The visitors saw out the remaining minutes of stoppage time to get Gonçalo Brandão’s tenure as the new Casa Pia coach off to a highly positive start.

It was a forgettable game for young Benfica centre-backs Tomás Araújo and António Silva, the former scoring an own goal, the latter at the centre of the penalty controversy (Photo: Arlindo Homem ©)

Benfica vent fury in post-match reaction

José Mourinho, in a surprisingly calm and composed manner given the circumstances, recognised his players were not exempt from blame for the result, but was cutting in his evaluation of the officiating.

“My thoughts? What happened is our fault. At 1-0 we relaxed; we have to kill the game. We have to be hungrier, even at 2-0 we have to keep playing to close out the game.

“But I feel there is a negativity running throughout the squad, that something bad may happen. We were coasting, and I admit we should have done more, but then the referee intervened to bring Casa Pia back into the game.

“The referee’s “mistake” and I’m being kind calling it a “mistake” is one thing. But the bigger “mistake” is VAR not correcting it. It was a clear example of what FIFA, UEFA, domestic leagues all over have informed us is not a penalty.

“Benfica must be shown more respect by all parties involved in Portuguese football.”

Although focusing his ire on the officials, Mourinho reiterated that his players have to do better. “When I talk about Benfica being shown respect, I include our players. Some players don’t know what Benfica is yet.”

António Silva: “refereeing is ‘conditioned’”

The player at the centre of the contentious penalty went further and suggested that the refereeing in Portugal is “condicionada” which can be loosely translated as “biased” at best, or “fixed” at worse, alluding to tonight’s match and Sporting’s controversial 2-1 victory at Santa Clara yesterday.

“It’s our fault we drew the game; we could have done more,” said Silva in the flash interview. “This weekend made it clear what is going on in our football. The protocol says if the ball deflects off the body onto the arm it is not handball. I don’t understand how the referee awarded a penalty. I think this weekend it was completely clear that the refereeing is very condicionada.”

Rui Costa demands answers

Newly re-elected Benfica president Rui Costa added his weight to the indignation, summoning journalists to an impromptu statement after Mourinho’s post-match press conference to express his fury.

“We never hide from our responsibilities, and Benfica should have done much more to win this game. We have to want it more; we have to want it much more,” he began.

“But Portuguese football is sick. It is inadmissible that a penalty is given that is clearly not a penalty. The law is crystal clear. If the ball deflects off the body onto the arm it is not a penalty. The penalty was given and the game was open again.

“What has happened this weekend is too much. One team gets a corner which was not a corner and the team get two extra points. Another has a penalty against them wrongly awarded and two points are lost. Enough! This is enough!

“The referee can make a mistake. But VAR cannot fail to correct it. We will request an urgent meeting with the Portuguese football authorities.”