Porto fan blames Varandas for Portuguese football’s decline | OneFootball

José Fernando Rio, former candidate for the presidency of Porto, lamented the tense atmosphere that has been present in Portuguese football in recent weeks. The businessman also points to Frederico Varandas as the main 'culprit' for this war that has erupted and says that he considers himself better than others.

"This pressure climate regarding refereeing has always existed in Portuguese football. But the last major milestone of this pressure was the interview Frederico Varandas gave to Sporting TV last March. That's when everything intensified," he stated to 'Notícias ao Minuto'.

José Fernando Rio also criticized how the Eagles and Lions have reacted to the Dragons' discourse: "Of course, Benfica and Sporting immediately reacted with many statements and posts on social media. President Varandas even said he met with the president of the FPF to map out the club affiliations of the social bodies, look at where we've come to," he lamented.

According to him, the intervention of the Lions' top leader at the Gala Rugidos de Leão was crucial in escalating hostilities: "The President of Sporting sees himself as someone very special and above others. But he is not; he is the same as the others. He used to criticize Pinto da Costa a lot and, in essence, even in the worst aspects, he is quite similar to him. He held a rally where he said things that were not an absolute truth, and Porto was forced to restore the truth and demonstrate the hypocrisy of Varandas' words and speech," he asserted.

Rio argued that the rivals have been favored: "What Porto wants is that, throughout the season, it is not the most disadvantaged club and that others are the most favored. Everyone recognizes that, so far, Porto has not won any game due to refereeing benefits and has already been disadvantaged in some, despite winning. It is unanimous that Benfica and Sporting have already won games due to refereeing benefits," he concluded.

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