Frederico Varandas defends Sporting and slams Villas-Boas: “Not accurate” | OneFootball

Frederico Varandas responded this Wednesday to the criticism made by André Villas-Boas regarding the proposals submitted by Sporting at the last Liga General Assembly. On the sidelines of the 70th anniversary celebrations of the Estádio Universitário, the Sporting president accused Porto’s leader of lacking accuracy and took the opportunity to defend the measures put forward by the Lions.

“I think the best compliment that can be paid to Sporting is that, every time Porto’s president speaks, he talks about Sporting. It’s at celebrations, it’s in interviews... and Sporting fans waited 40 years for this and, maybe, they don’t realize that it’s a huge compliment,” Frederico Varandas began by saying.

The Sporting leader then directly criticized André Villas-Boas. “As for the substance, it’s not the first time, and I want to be precise with my words, because I don’t want to offend anyone, that Porto’s president has not been accurate,” he said.

Varandas also recalled previous statements by the Porto official. “He went public saying that Sporting’s president had called the FPF president, João Capela and Nuno Almeida thieves. He said this out loud, with microphones live for the whole country. He told a lie; you can decide for yourselves what adjective should be used for someone when they lie,” he fired back.

Regarding the controversy over the use of VAR in corner-kick situations, Sporting’s president explained the proposal put forward by the Lions at the General Assembly. “IFAB allowed the laws of the game to be changed regarding the use of VAR to review the awarding of corners, but it does not make it mandatory; it gives the respective competitions the option of adopting this possibility,” he began by clarifying.

“Interestingly, at the General Assembly, Sporting picked a situation that caused so much noise throughout the year and was the one that most influenced the championship, which was the awarding of an incorrect corner. Sporting, which benefited from that decision, proposed that this rule already in force should be applied. Something that, very surprisingly, Porto voted against,” he added.

Frederico Varandas also detailed other proposals put forward by the Lions that ended up being rejected by the clubs. “Sporting also proposed changing it so that the home team’s bench switches with the visitors’ bench, so that the home team does not put pressure on the assistant referee. It was rejected. We proposed that, regardless of the club, penalties for trying to influence referees should be increased fourfold. It was rejected,” he said.

“It was also proposed that, where the home club could prove there had been coordination among the ball boys to waste time, there should be severe punishments. It was rejected. It was also proposed that directors be held responsible for posts on clubs’ social media aimed at influencing referees, and it was rejected again,” he continued.

The Sporting president then accused Porto and Benfica of maintaining a strategy of pressure on refereeing teams. “They do not want to change Portuguese football. It is clear that Porto and Benfica have a communication strategy, which has now become a sporting one, of influencing referees, without any shame or honesty,” he attacked.

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