Rui Costa: Sporting favoured, suggests fix in emotional outburst | OneFootball

Rui Costa believes that Sporting has been "benefited" by the referees since last season. At a time when he is seeking greater sympathy from Benfica fans, in an attempt to be re-elected president, the leader once again attacked the Alvalade Club.

"I want healthier Portuguese football, I don't want Benfica to be stepped on and at this moment that's what I feel about Benfica, there are very evident things, there are games with great evidence and always on the same side. Benfica obviously cannot be blind or with blind eyes to watch what is happening. What happened in the Cup final is too significant for there not to be measures that improve Portuguese football", he said, to the NOW channel.

Rui Costa assured "not to be accusing A, B or C of benefiting", but rather to "report evidence", pointing out the solution: "I want the Referee Council, Federation and League to observe. To understand what is happening. But I don't want benefits for Benfica, I want games contested on the field, it should be like that and it's not what we've been seeing".

Asked about the audios released in 2024/25, accusing Sporting of "dominating Portuguese football", Rui Costa assured: "They were not debatable cases, they were clear and evident. Benfica expressed itself at the time and that night I was outraged. I came from the Cup final, I came from a penalty against Arouca at home, considered a penalty with the head, and I came from a Santa Clara-Sporting match, with a very clear penalty against Sporting in the title decision, three or four rounds before the end of the championship".

"I don't know if it was to benefit Sporting or to harm Benfica, I felt harmed. This Cup game... it's like entering the Cosme Damião Museum and they took the Cup from there. But I'm not accusing anyone individually, I'm accusing the national football organism. Do I think that Sporting is being benefited at this moment? I think so! I don't know if it's because it dominates, I tend to trust people and I hope I'm not mistaken", he added.

"Are we going to discuss the Estoril game? If it was a penalty? If it was offside? Whoever says that Sporting's goal is not offside has to explain Sporting's goal a year before that takes us out of the Portuguese Cup, exactly the same. We want explanations. Benfica wants to compete for the championship on the field. The Estoril game shows that Sporting was benefited. The Referee Council has to answer this. The Cup final referee said they mourned the Cup final, now they have to mourn Estoril too, it was the same referee", he concluded.

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