Villas-Boas scathing: “Varandas came to show off, FC Porto have proof” | OneFootball

André Villas-Boas strongly criticized Frederico Varandas, saying that the Sporting president came “to make a fool of himself” and “forced the minister to meet with the two presidents in a case where FC Porto has irrefutable evidence,” referring to the controversy surrounding the handball clássico between the two teams.

“I understand the Sporting president’s frustrations, especially when, in his stadium, there are fans throwing glass bottles at referees’ heads, players claiming that a referee is a thief... I understand the frustrations. When there are breaches of the League’s regulatory codes to postpone a football match... I understand the attempts to change the narrative. As there was a break for national team matches, Sporting want to push the Tondela match case a little further down the line. He came here to make the fool of himself the way he did, which is regrettable across the entire League. He forced the minister to meet with both presidents in a case where FC Porto has irrefutable evidence. Once the case is closed, FC Porto will be relentless,” said the Porto president after the meeting with the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Margarida Balseiro Lopes, called in the wake of the incident at Dragão Arena, where the Lions complained of a strong smell that led players and the coach to need medical assistance. Even so, AVB counters: “There wasn’t even any hospitalization of Sporting members. Several people left the dressing room and there were Sporting players joking about the situation...”

Regarding this case, Villas-Boas hopes everything will be dismissed and, after that, promises to take action against the Lions: “Once all the facts have been established, and this is dismissed, FC Porto will be relentless with Sporting regarding defamation, slander and attacks against its good name. Not only on Sporting’s part, but also from some media commentators who went beyond freedom of expression.”

AVB also guaranteed that Varandas apologized to him for calling him a “liar” and a “coward” after the clássico at Alvalade on March 4: “Do you think the Sporting president’s agitated state after the match is normal, when he calls another president a coward and a liar? After a meeting we had, the Sporting president came to apologize to me. In front of the media he is not capable of doing it. And the apology was accepted. It was at this last meeting, when we met with the FPF president about sports betting. He apologized to me. A result of his constant and inflammatory statements to the media. This was the last time we were face-to-face and spoke about the issue of revenue. I cannot do more than play my role.”

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