Rui Costa backs Benfica star and denies Bruno Lage, that's just how it is | OneFootball

Rui Costa refuted Bruno Lage and stated that Richard Ríos was a player approved by the entire Benfica structure

03 Oct 2025 | 07:29 |

Rui Costa - who sees Barcelona wanting to take a youth academy gem - believes that Richard Ríos will still succeed wearing the Benfica shirt. In a long interview, the President of the Clube da Luz refuted Bruno Lage, ensuring that the signing of the Colombian international was approved by the entire Benfica structure, including the technical team.

"I confirm that all the players who arrive, I know them and I watch them. I made comments about Richard Ríos, as well as about other players. But he was a player approved by the technical team, the scouts, the sporting director, and the general director,” said Rui Costa, contradicting Bruno Lage.

“In my role as President, I have never been in the situation of saying 'I want this player and this player is coming.' There are many players who arrive via the president, others via the sporting director. That’s just how football works. Richard Ríos had been in our database for a long time because of what he did at Palmeiras, and what he has done for the Colombian national team,” Rui Costa added.

“Today it’s a topic because, clearly, he’s still in a phase of adapting to European football. Now he had the misfortune of scoring an own goal against Chelsea and it can become a topic. For us, it’s not an issue. Richard Ríos is a great player, a great asset that Benfica has. He showed that in the past and he will show it again,” considered Rui Costa.

“In fact, I can even say—and I don’t think there’s any harm in it—that we had already looked at him. But he was at prohibitive prices, much more than the 27 million. And although this year we paid quite a lot for him—and that’s how the market is—last year he would have cost much more,” concluded Rui Costa.

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