Varandas defends Sporting: Forty years of favours, now we’re blamed? | OneFootball

After Sporting's victory on Vitória de Guimarães' ground (4-1), Frederico Varandas was in the mixed zone, where he addressed not only the match but also the recent controversies surrounding refereeing. The president of the green and whites criticized the “collective hysteria” created around the penalty incident involving Hjulmand and denounced an unequal application of the rules among different clubs.

“Just go back 24 hours and there’s a Farense - Benfica match, where I saw, when it was 0-0, a simulation by a Benfica player that the referee, wrongly, called as a foul, a free kick. Benfica scored. What happened? A month ago, a wrongly awarded corner in the Azores led to a Sporting goal. I’ll repeat. Wrongly awarded. What happened? Newspaper covers, a disgrace, talking about anticyclones. And what about the silence in Faro? Why are there double standards? People aren’t used to natural mistakes benefiting Sporting. But they’ll have to get used to it. If there are mistakes, it’s normal for mistakes to happen for everyone. What I don’t think is normal, and here a large part of the media is responsible, is that there isn’t this treatment for other clubs. Benfica has already had nine penalties. I’m not going to comment, analyze it yourselves. Yesterday’s? What would it be like if it was Sporting? More. Former referees, if it was Sporting, would say it wasn’t a penalty. I have no doubt. Analyze it. There were mistakes, for sure. But this collective hysteria? Don’t kid yourselves. This is very important to me: today we are heading towards a completely absurd level of noise.”

Frederico Varandas did not spare criticism for the Dragons, considering that they too contributed to the “noise” about refereeing: “And then, regarding Porto. It’s not just Benfica. There are two communication strategies of hysteria, noise. Porto released a statement after the big drama in the Azores saying that the president of the Federation had to take measures, saying that there was a Sporting lawyer on the Commission...”

The president also recalled recent Champions League episodes, where international refereeing could have harmed Sporting in clear cases: “Sporting plays in the Champions League. Who’s there? The best international referees? If it were up to the field referee, Sporting might have three points instead of 10. Against Napoli? A shameful red card was forgiven for De Bruyne. Against Marseille at home, three major errors were overturned. Against Brugge, a straight red for our captain that was nothing. These are international referees. And then, for a wrongly awarded corner, which the best Portuguese referee called incorrectly, the whole refereeing is called into question? This has reached an unsustainable point. For parachutists who just arrived? Unsustainable were 40 years of ‘fruit’, 40 years of meetings between presidents Luís Filipe Vieira and Pinto da Costa discussing who would be the president of the League and the Federation, discussing which referee for which match, 40 years of ‘masses’, of ‘priests’, of football agents buying players to lose matches. That’s what was unsustainable. And I won’t allow it.”

Despite the criticism, he acknowledged that there are still mistakes in refereeing and praised the work of the Refereeing Council: “Sporting doesn’t vote for faces or people. Sporting votes for projects. And one of the things Pedro Proença had: groups of committees for reflection within the Federation. On refereeing, on coaches, on players, on infrastructure and competitions. Groups that have no decision-making power. It’s for reflection on Portuguese football. [...] This Refereeing Council is taking things step by step. The grades are now public, that’s important. Are there mistakes? Yes. Can we have better referees? Yes. But this climate that’s been created, and going back to Porto. How do they release a statement like that? Either it’s profound structural ignorance, which I don’t believe, or it’s lying just to create noise. And they’re so concerned, it’s been 50 days since Braga - Porto and are you satisfied with the result of the audit? What happened with Fábio Veríssimo? I heard the Porto president say he was going to do an audit. 50 days, my friends. And you, questions? Don’t you ask questions? Aren’t there press conferences?”

Finally, the official emphasized that Sporting does not make excuses about refereeing and called for equal sanctions for all clubs that comment publicly on refereeing: “The situation is suffocating, especially for the referees. And the truth is, and here again I have to say there’s a lack of courage on the part of the media, Sporting loses titles and doesn’t complain about refereeing. Sporting finishes 4th and doesn’t complain about refereeing. [...] There’s only one way: it won’t be easy to pass this in the General Assembly of Clubs. I’ve already called the president of the League. The regulations have to be changed and it has to be like this: the president of Sporting talks about refereeing... a 100 thousand euro fine. The president of Porto talks about refereeing... 100 thousand euros. Benfica makes a ‘tweet’, 100 or 200 thousand. It’s the only way we’ll be able to breathe. And let’s see how it goes from here. This collective hysteria, this, in there, in Sporting’s locker room, is gasoline. Super gasoline for the three-peat,” he concluded.

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