Rui Costa hits back: Benfica chief slams criticism as unfair | OneFootball

At a campaign event, Rui Costa spoke out about criticism he has received from candidates in the Benfica elections. Photograph: Social Media

Rui Costa, current President of Benfica and candidate for a second term, was present at a campaign event where he met with supporters living in Grândola. However, before addressing the Members, the president responded to criticism made by Luís Filipe Vieira.

Before discussing the topics he brought to the event, the President made a point of clarifying his thoughts on the statements made by his predecessor: "You already know me, I’m not one for dirty campaigns or for responding to people personally. Each person should campaign based on what they have to offer Benfiquistas and not to talk about others, but nothing surprises me anymore."

"Benfica’s Members don’t deserve to see people from the same club treating each other that way, I won’t go down that path. I’m pleased that many of the candidates’ proposals are ‘Rui Costa this, Rui Costa that’," added the leader of the Eagles, in front of those present, at an event held in Grândola.

"It’s unfair and even ungrateful to talk about 100 million euros when I’ve already shown, more than once, that part of that increase comes from the period when I took over during the Covid phase. In the previous year, Benfica had no revenue, had the same salary costs because no one’s salaries were reduced, but that was paid for later," explained the President of the Clube da Luz.

However, he stated that the management has already gotten to work: "I never put the club in financial danger and in the last year we started working to get back to the numbers we want regarding the debt. Talking for the sake of talking, it’s better not to talk at all."

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