Villas-Boas blasts refs, Liga, Sporting and Benfica in broadside | OneFootball

In the August edition of Dragões magazine, FC Porto president André Villas-Boas signed a particularly critical editorial, in which he pointed the finger at refereeing, the League, Sporting, Benfica and commentators who, in his view, help create narratives unfavourable to the Dragons.

The club official began by painting a negative picture of the national competitions, highlighting the poor condition of some pitches, the low number of fans in the stands and television broadcasts that he believes are incapable of properly promoting Portuguese football.

For Villas-Boas, there is a clear difference between what is actually experienced in stadiums and the discourse of modernisation and growth presented by certain officials and figures in the public sphere.

Refereeing was one of the main targets of the criticism. The Porto president challenged the lack of consistency in the application of criteria and drew a comparison between the decisions seen in FC Porto matches and the treatment given to Sporting’s games.

Villas-Boas also turned to irony when addressing the idea of “uniformity of criteria”. According to the FC Porto president, there are incidents in the Dragons’ matches that could warrant penalties but prompt no intervention from VAR, while in Sporting’s matches, the most relevant decisions often end up benefiting the same side.

Frederico Varandas was also targeted in the editorial, with Villas-Boas making a jibe about future remarks by the Sporting president regarding so-called sporting truth.

Benfica also featured among the topics addressed. The FC Porto president revisited the case involving Pedro Proença and the controversy surrounding the use of the Estádio da Luz by the national team, criticising what he sees as an incoherent attitude when it comes to institutional respect.

Villas-Boas also compared the transfers of Diego Moreira and Rodrigo Mora.

The club official recalled that Diego Moreira left Benfica without the club receiving any direct return, before later being involved in a €50 million transfer to AC Milan. Rodrigo Mora, in turn, left FC Porto in a deal also linked to a fee of €50 million.

In the Porto president’s view, the media coverage of the two cases was quite different, and he accused some commentators of applying different standards when assessing deals involving FC Porto.

The editorial closes with André Villas-Boas reaffirming his defence of the club’s management and taking a confrontational stance towards what he sees as recurring criticism aimed at FC Porto, both on and off the pitch.

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