Porto accuse Veríssimo of ignoring incidents and threats in Arouca | OneFootball

The Disciplinary Council (CD) of the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) dismissed the complaint filed by FC Porto against referee Fábio Veríssimo, related to the controversial FC Porto-Sp. Braga match, but also based on the Arouca-FC Porto match, also refereed by Veríssimo. The inquiry process's decision became public this Monday and describes the allegations from the Dragons and the referee's defense.

In summary, FC Porto accused Fábio Veríssimo of making threatening and provocative statements to a club official and omitting facts in his report on the Arouca-FC Porto match, as well as recording inaccuracies in the report of the match against Sp. Braga at Dragão.

The executive manager and regular club delegate for the games, Henrique Monteiro, is a central figure in the process, and his testimony initiated the investigation. According to this official, when approaching Fábio Veríssimo's locker room at the end of the match in Arouca, during the 7th round of Liga Portugal Betclic, to wish him a good rest of the season, he allegedly heard the referee say the following phrases interpreted as threats: “Engineer Luís Gonçalves, you are forgiven. Come back, you are forgiven” and “you need to learn, you need to be expelled once or twice to learn.”

In the accusatory piece, FC Porto argues that these interactions were not included in the referee's report and that their omission “compromises the truth of the report.”

Regarding the game against Sp. Braga, in the 10th round, where Henrique Monteiro was expelled by Fábio Veríssimo, the referee recorded in the report that the official had left the technical area to contest a decision and that, among other expressions, he allegedly said: “Go to hell, man.” FC Porto contested both facts, stating that Monteiro did not leave the technical zone – providing images in support – and that the delegate in the match actually declared: “The ball didn't go out, it's a shame, damn it, man.” The club argued, therefore, the lack of factual support for the report.

Heard in the inquiry, Fábio Veríssimo denied mentioning Luís Gonçalves in the exchange with Henrique Monteiro in Arouca, admitting, however, to having warned the official about the need to adjust his behavior on the bench in a preventive and pedagogical manner.

Regarding the report of FC Porto-Sp. Braga and Henrique Monteiro's expulsion, the referee stated he did not directly hear the expressions allegedly directed at him and acted on the indication of the 4th referee, arguing that the report reflects the information provided by the other members of the refereeing team, without any intentional alteration.

Besides Henrique Monteiro and Fábio Veríssimo, the FC Porto arbitration area advisor and trainer, Bertino Miranda, and the club's operations director, Tiago Madureira, were heard in the inquiry. Assistants Lino Godinho and Lucho González were listed as witnesses, but the investigator deemed their hearings unnecessary.

Via videoconference, the Liga Portugal delegate at the Arouca match, Tiago Almeida, as well as the 4th referee and assistant referee of the FC Porto-Sp. Braga match, respectively Gustavo Correia and Pedro Martins, were also heard.

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