Arantes Fontes hits back at Mourinho after Sporting 'attack', denied | OneFootball

The latest opinion piece by Tito Arantes Fontes, in this Thursday's edition, December 11, of Jornal Sporting, is used by the former leader of Grupo Stromp to criticize José Mourinho, following the statements made by the Benfica coach after the derby, related to Morten Hjulmand.

"The Benfica coach had the audacity to – at the end of the game – talk about [Morten] Hjulmand… but it backfired on him! In fact, Mourinho was immediately – and rightly! – brutally contradicted by the majority of the Portuguese media! After all, Hjulmand is not the so-called “untouchable”, but rather the player most penalized with yellow cards in the Portuguese League", he began writing.

"With the truth, therefore, silencing rumors that are authentic fallacies without any basis in truth, especially in sporting truth (...). The Benfica coach also deserves a clearly negative note for defending, even praising, his player who made that harsh tackle on Geny Catamo. It is an unsporting foul! It should never deserve any praise. It is anti-football", continued Tito Arantes Fontes, referring to Gianluca Prestianni.

"But, as we have seen, for some… well, the ends – especially their ends – justify the means, even the most barbaric ones! And that same Mourinho deserves another negative note for the 'parallel version' he wanted to circulate regarding the goal of Sporting [by Pedro Gonçalves]! No, that goal was not an 'own goal'! It was (...) the result of competitive rigor and the merit of the Sporting team, especially in ball recovery, in the “high pressure” they subjected – and rightly so! – their opponent to", he further completed.

Furthermore, Tito Arantes Fontes commented on the "aggressiveness" of the Benfica players in the match, which resulted in several injuries for the lions: "[Francisco] Trincão suffered a harsh tackle. [Geovany] Quenda broke his foot. Catamo narrowly escaped a very serious injury. Pote was once again 'hit'. Several injuries, several players unable to go to Munich to defend Sporting's colors, the highest-ranked club in the Champions League and which continues to honor Portuguese football".

In conclusion, the former leader of Grupo Stromp lamented that the match was only broadcast on BTV: "As usual, the vast majority of the country was deprived of watching the match, as it was only shown on the 'closed and private circuit' of the visiting club. And, obviously, I – like so many millions here and overseas – will not, do not want to, subscribe to their channel, made for them, commented by them".

"For the sake of truth, I don’t even want to look at that channel. Never, ever! I and – I repeat – many good people, the majority of Portuguese, especially many Sporting fans. It is a very Portuguese peculiarity, this, to allow there to be a club – always the same one – that has the right to 'eccentricities' of this caliber. Well, things of our Portugal! I speak, therefore, in this column based on the excerpts I managed to catch on the news and some sports programs on the “normal channels”, not 'engaged', on open signal or by subscription", he added.

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