Varandas brands Villas-Boas a “liar” and “coward”: “He’s scared” | OneFootball

Frederico Varandas responded to the statements made by Villas-Boas at the end of the Sporting-FC Porto (1-0) match, specifically regarding the intention to file a complaint against Luis Suárez.

“Ah, that’s the issue from the match, right? That’s the issue from the match… First, let me say a word to the Sporting fans. We broadcasted a classic to the whole world, where, since yesterday, we showed how to welcome a rival. I want to highlight that there were no fireworks, the FC Porto players slept and slept very well, I hope, which is only fair, and they had their rest. Just as all the FC Porto staff and directors were treated with full dignity, as it should be. I truly want to thank all the Sporting members who, regardless of who wins or loses, we are Sporting, and we are very different from these people. Sporting are back-to-back champions, three championships in five years, but what I am most proud of is the way Sporting is and how the club’s governing bodies have the mission to represent this Sporting. As president, I went to court once for calling the former president of FC Porto a bandit and an active corrupter. That was the only time. That’s how I feel Sporting fans see themselves, and I want to highlight the way they behaved in a big classic,” began the Sporting president.

The president of the green and white club then made harsh criticisms of the FC Porto leader before continuing with his remarks.

“I will have to talk a lot about the president of FC Porto. I want to start by mentioning the lack of class, because he was a coach, he held press conferences, and there’s a rule – normally it’s a rule of respect for the coach – you don’t interrupt the coach who’s giving the press conference. But you know what the problem is? He doesn’t want to listen. They don’t want to listen. They want to build a narrative. Do you know why? I’ll tell you why. Now they want to make Luis Suárez the scapegoat. And do you know why? Because I see the president of FC Porto is very afraid. Why? Because he’s a coach. He looks at the field and sees the same as I do: he thinks his team isn’t good enough to be champions. It’s not enough. That’s his fear: they don’t play well, and that’s his fear. So, what are we going to do? Morten Hjulmand, against Aves, I think it was against Aves, a case against Morten Hjulmand for aggression. Almost no referee is allowed to officiate because of Morten Hjulmand. Even the handball coach already faced a criminal case for throwing a water bottle. The handball coach. That’s FC Porto’s narrative. I see a team leading the league and they don’t know how they’re leading it and they’re very afraid. He says Suárez should get four matches because he got that in China, he was in that Democratic Republic, a truly democratic country, but did they ask him if in China he posted videos to influence referees? Maybe he’d get 40 matches… I’d like you to ask the president of FC Porto what the VAR mistake was in the video broadcast. Mr. Villas-Boas has responsibilities. He’s president, but he knows a lot about football…,” he continued.

Varandas also commented on the refereeing, which was contested by Porto fans, and Suárez’s gesture before assessing the potential disciplinary consequences.

“They want to talk about a foul that preceded the goal. A hypothetical foul. The play he mentions with Pepê, where in his opinion there was a foul by Maxi, which I disagree with, is a minute and 40 seconds before the penalty. That’s what we’re talking about. And do you know why we’re talking about Suárez? Because Alberto should have been sent off and it would have been decided. It was a very bad, gross mistake. The consequence of that is Suárez’s gesture. Do you know why he talks about Suárez’s suspension? Because he’s afraid Suárez will keep playing, because Suárez plays very well, scores a lot of goals, and that’s a real problem. I believe the reason for Suárez’s action will be understood. Should he have done it? No. It was in the heat of the game. But we have to understand why. If Suárez is punished, I want to know how many matches a club should get for influencing a referee at halftime with videos from even youth games. Let’s put everything on the same scale. But also, what punishment should there be for instructing ball boys to remove the balls? We’ll see,” he said.

As for Villas-Boas’s accusations that he called the Federation president a thief, Varandas was unequivocal.

“President André Villas-Boas is lying, he’s a liar. He’s fine with football, he’s a liar, but he’s very small for the entity and the club he leads. Do you know why? He has no ethical dimension, neither he nor the friends around him, some are here and others in the shadows. There’s going to be a Stuttgart-FC Porto now and I challenge him here: do the same as you did.”

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