Porto’s Clássico complaints: harsh yellow, Suárez’s foul, penalty row | OneFootball

Francesco Farioli did not hesitate, at the end of Tuesday night, to point the finger at Sporting during the press conference following FC Porto's defeat in the first leg of the Portuguese Cup semi-finals, 1-0, a match marked by a controversial refereeing by Cláudio Pereira, at the José Alvalade Stadium.

"We did our job well, especially in the first half, with all the players in the right positions. We did very well. The best image of the first half is realizing that our rivals needed 20 minutes to return from the break, to find the right adjustment to what we presented. That is interesting because the break lasts 15 minutes worldwide, but they have the luxury of deciding when to return. They had that extra time," he began by stating.

"In the second half, I had to take Alberto [Costa] off because of the yellow card he received in a play that wasn't even a foul. Sporting's players should have seen three yellow cards before that play, and there was the situation with [Jan] Bednarek, which is evident. Tomorrow, the people in charge will be able to see the images and apply the right consequences to the player [Luis Suárez]. And there are interesting images of a great gesture at the end of the first half... Something that leaves no room for interpretation, it was very clear what it meant. If they follow the rules, we know what should happen," he added.

However, he didn't stop there: "The penalty is clear. There are no doubts, no discussion. But, 30 seconds before, there is a clear foul on Pepê, which leads to the action resulting in the penalty. Then it's the game's 'micromanagement': the cards, a fantastic player like [Morten] Hjulmand always being able to go up to the referee to shout, complain... It happens in all fields."

"Our captain [Diogo Costa] couldn't even take a step to speak. This is painful, and the most incredible thing is seeing these images at the end of the first half. In a normal situation, today we should have played with Aves or Santa Clara. Alberto's second foul, on Geny [Catamo], is for a yellow, but before that, there's a foul, and on the first card he sees, there's no foul at all. I'm not criticizing the refereeing. I'm commenting on clear episodes," he emphasized.

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