“Why doubt FC Porto?”: Vítor Pinto grills Federation on Diogo Costa | OneFootball

There is a question that Vítor Pinto, deputy director of Record, left unanswered — and that deserves an answer: why did the Portuguese Football Federation accept Manchester City’s medical information on Bernardo Silva without reservation, but not do the same with FC Porto’s information on Diogo Costa?

What FC Porto communicated — and whenAccording to Vítor Pinto, FC Porto alerted the Federation right at the start of the week: Diogo Costa had edema, was struggling, and would likely have to stop after the weekend matchday. The information was passed on a week in advance.Even so, after the match against Sporting de Braga, the goalkeeper was forced to make the car journey to Lisbon — around 700 kilometres — to undergo an MRI scan that ended up confirming exactly what the club had already communicated.

The contrast with Bernardo SilvaIn the same squad call-up, Bernardo Silva was reportedly excused on the basis of the medical information provided by Manchester City. No one questioned it. No one asked for in-person confirmation. The player stayed in Manchester, played 90 minutes at the weekend and lifted the trophy.

For Vítor Pinto, the conclusion is inevitable: the Federation treated the medical information from an English club differently from that of a Portuguese club. And that, the journalist says very clearly, makes no sense.

“Medical information must carry the same weight”The deputy director of Record was direct: the medical information from FC Porto, Benfica, Sporting, Sporting de Braga or any other Portuguese club must carry exactly the same weight, the same respectability and the same professional ethics as that of any Premier League club.Forcing Diogo Costa to make a 700-kilometre trip to confirm an injury the Federation had already been informed about a week earlier is, in Vítor Pinto’s words, something that simply makes no sense. And it deserves an explanation — from Roberto Martínez, the Federation’s Medical Department, and president Pedro Proença.

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