Porto accuse Veríssimo of ignoring incidents and threats in Arouca | OneFootball

The Disciplinary Council (CD) of the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) has dismissed the complaint filed by FC Porto against referee Fábio Veríssimo, related to the controversial FC Porto-Sp. Braga match, but also based on the Arouca-FC Porto game, which was also refereed by Veríssimo. The ruling of the inquiry process became public this Monday and describes the allegations made by the Dragons and the referee’s defense.

In summary, FC Porto accused Fábio Veríssimo of making threatening and provocative statements to a club official and of omitting facts in his report on the Arouca-FC Porto match, as well as recording inaccuracies in the report of the match against Sp. Braga at the Dragão stadium.

The club’s executive manager and regular match delegate, Henrique Monteiro, is a central figure in the process, and it was his testimony that triggered the investigation. According to this official, when he approached Fábio Veríssimo’s dressing room at the end of the match in Arouca, on the 7th round of Liga Portugal Betclic, to wish him a good rest of the season, he allegedly heard the following phrases from the referee, interpreted as threats: “Engineer Luís Gonçalves, you are forgiven. Come back, you are forgiven” and “you need to learn, you need to be sent off once or twice to learn.”

In its accusatory statement, FC Porto argues that these interactions were not included in the referee’s report and that their omission “compromises the truthfulness of the report.”

Regarding the match against Sp. Braga, in the 10th round, in which Henrique Monteiro was sent off by Fábio Veríssimo, the referee recorded in his report that the official had left the technical area to contest a decision and that, among other expressions, he had said: “Go to hell, man.” FC Porto contested both facts, stating that Monteiro did not leave the technical area—providing images in support—and that the delegate at the match had actually said: “The ball didn’t go out, it’s a disgrace, damn it, man.” The club therefore argued that there was no factual basis for the report.

Questioned during the inquiry, Fábio Veríssimo denied mentioning Luís Gonçalves in his exchange with Henrique Monteiro in Arouca, but admitted to having warned the official about the need to adjust his behavior on the bench in a preventive and pedagogical manner.

Regarding the report on the FC Porto-Sp. Braga match and the expulsion of Henrique Monteiro, the referee stated that he did not directly hear the expressions allegedly addressed to him and that he acted on the recommendation of the fourth official, maintaining that the report reflects the information provided by the other members of the refereeing team, without any intentional alteration.

In addition to Henrique Monteiro and Fábio Veríssimo, the inquiry also heard FC Porto’s referee assessor and trainer, Bertino Miranda, and the club’s operations director, Tiago Madureira. Assistant coaches Lino Godinho and Lucho González were listed as witnesses, but the investigator considered their testimonies unnecessary.

By videoconference, the Liga Portugal delegate for the match in Arouca, Tiago Almeida, as well as the fourth official and the assistant referee for FC Porto-Sp. Braga, Gustavo Correia and Pedro Martins, respectively, were also heard.

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