Members concerned by João Pinheiro’s appointment: double standards | OneFootball

Before the classic match between FC Porto and Benfica, scheduled for Sunday at 6:00 PM at Estádio da Luz, a group of members of the Porto club released an open letter expressing concern over the appointment of referee João Pinheiro to officiate the 25th round of the League.

“There is much more at stake than just three points. The credibility of Portuguese football and the respect of millions of fans who want to see the game decided solely on the pitch are at stake. The appointment of João Pinheiro for matches of this level inevitably raises concerns among many Porto supporters. The memory of what happened at Luz in 2023, with the sending off of Fábio Cardoso in the 19th minute of the first half—a decision that generated enormous controversy and influenced the final result of that match—remains very present among FC Porto fans,” state the nearly 50 signatories, including Luís Barradas, Heleno Roseira, and João Proença, candidates in the 2024 elections for President of the General Assembly Board, President of the Fiscal and Disciplinary Council, and Vice-President of the Board of Directors, respectively.

“As we all saw at Alvalade last Tuesday, it is unacceptable that, in matches of this magnitude, decisions that leave deep doubts are repeated and end up marking games that should be decided only by the players’ talent and the teams’ competence. There are teams that play only against one opponent. FC Porto, as a rule, plays against the opponent and against a peculiar concept called ‘criteria,’” the group of Porto members continues, fearing that at Luz “anything goes to try” to bring down the team led by Francesco Farioli.

“When FC Porto denounces, it is called pressure, lies, and cowardice; when others do it, it is called a demand for the sake of transparency and truth in Portuguese football. But FC Porto fans are not asking for privileges. They are simply asking for something simple: fairness, impartiality, and courage from the refereeing team and the video assistant referee. (…) May the protagonist on Sunday be the game—and not yet another refereeing decision that will forever be associated with the result, for we fear that at Luz anything goes to try to bring us down,” the open letter concludes.

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