Hjulmand booked early in Champions League, exposes Portugal’s leniency | OneFootball

Morten Hjulmand received a yellow card 19 minutes into the Champions League match, where Sporting was heavily defeated by Bodo Glimt (3-0), following protests directed at the refereeing team.

The incident once again highlights a disciplinary criterion that continues to generate debate, especially when compared to the Portuguese reality. At issue is the (lack of) speed with which referees sanction gestures or complaints directed at their decisions, something that, in various international competitions, has been applied with greater rigor.

In this case, the warning came at an early stage of the match, clearly indicating the reduced level of tolerance for protests. The situation reinforces the idea that, in UEFA-organized competitions, the approach to verbal or gestural contestation is often more immediate.

In Portugal, on the contrary, Hjulmand seems to be able to do as he pleases. The contrast between different competitive contexts has fueled criticism and calls for greater uniformity in refereeing criteria from FC Porto fans.

The episode with Hjulmand thus serves as a new example for an issue that remains unanswered in the national landscape: the use of cards for protests with the same level of strictness seen in major European competitions.

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