Villas-Boas hits out at Sporting and Benfica: holy alliances | OneFootball

André Villas-Boas left nothing unsaid, accusing Sporting and Benfica of being part of a "holy alliance" that commands Portuguese football. The President of Porto signed the editorial of the Dragões magazine, where he left many criticisms of Frederico Varandas, Rui Costa, and other national sports leaders - just days after a meeting that brought together the leaders of the three big clubs.

The first topic that drew criticism was the scheduling issue: "Incredibly and against a 2-6 vote, FC Porto is forced to play on Monday, December 15, with Estrela da Amadora, on Thursday, December 18, with Famalicão for the Portuguese Cup, and again, on Monday, December 22, with Alverca".

"All normal, the reader might say, if it weren't for the fact that Sporting managed to convince the others present to have two additional days of rest before, playing on Saturday, December 13, on Thursday, December 18 for the Cup, and receiving another additional day of rest afterward, as they only play again on Tuesday, December 23. This is the equity promoted by the League after the famous episode with the scheduling of the game in Arouca. A way of acting where the same club is always disadvantaged and where the holy alliances shamelessly reveal themselves. We might even see the Lisbon derby end with 3 points for each," André Villas-Boas remarked with irony.

He then addressed the issues of refereeing: "We recently met with the President of the Portuguese Football Federation and the President of the Refereeing Council, reinforcing our request to quickly ensure greater uniformity of referee criteria, the implementation of professionalization in this sector, greater coherence in the application of meritocracy criteria in appointments for more complex games, and again, a correct operationalization of the VAR technology functionalities, operating at its maximum capabilities, standardizing the number and quality of cameras in all Professional League stadiums".

"Without particularizing and always admitting that realities are dynamic and need continuous improvements and adaptations, our indignation takes on other proportions in the face of continued attempts to disguise what are evident weaknesses of the Refereeing system in Portugal," concluded the president of Porto, who once again criticized Sporting and the rival from the second circular.

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