Tradition keeps André Villas-Boas and Rui Costa apart in the derby | OneFootball

Rui Costa and André Villas-Boas will once again watch the classic match separately, as has been the case since the election of the FC Porto president in April 2024. It is not a tension as pronounced as the one between Villas-Boas and Frederico Varandas; according to the Porto leader, it was actually the opponent who determined this situation.

“I was elected president and my first match was a Benfica-FC Porto, and I was assigned a different seat than I expected. From then on, I reciprocated in the same way. It is not out of any antipathy towards Rui Costa, but after my election I was assigned the 6th or 7th row at Estádio da Luz, and FC Porto reciprocated with the 3rd row,” André Villas-Boas recently explained, adding that “there is still not total respect” for them to sit side by side.

In recent months, there have been ongoing exchanges of barbs between the presidents of Benfica and FC Porto. In October, after the Dragons' president commented on the Eagles' players' salaries, Rui Costa accused him of lying; about a month later, it was the Porto leader who stated that the leader of the Reds “has been in Sporting’s pocket for a long time.” Rui Costa considered this statement “abnormal” and interpreted it as an attempt by Villas-Boas to “divert attention” from the episode involving the camera at Fábio Veríssimo’s goal.

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