Vítor Pinto says Benfica can't handle No Name Boys' violent side | OneFootball

The sanction requiring Benfica to play the opening match behind closed doors continues to spark debate. On the program Mercado NOW, Vítor Pinto analyzed the decision and Marco Silva’s recent remarks about the need to find other ways to prevent episodes of violence in football.

pointing to security failures and breaches attributed to Benfica. The commentator argued for the firmest possible stance toward episodes of violence linked to the stands.

“You have to deal with it head-on. Benfica has great difficulty dealing with the violent side of the No Name Boys — you only have to look at the emails and see what Benfica’s directors were saying among themselves about this organized supporters’ group. There’s no need to mention only the last few years or the last few months, the cases in which the police had to intervene in several operations involving members of this group in very serious situations, many of them outside the sporting context".

Marco Silva’s remarks were also discussed. The Benfica coach argued that there are other ways to prevent situations of excess, and Vítor Pinto took the opportunity to question what those measures might be: “Marco Silva said, quite rightly, that there are other ways to prevent situations of excess. Then let him name some. He spent so many years in England. Does he want Portugal to adopt the same exclusion regime for hooligans that was applied in England and cleaned up English football? Then that’s an excellent suggestion for Benfica.”

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