Villas-Boas on Luis Suárez ban: “Conveniently timed for post-break opener” | OneFootball

In the editorial of the latest issue of Revista Dragões, published this Saturday and in which he took a ‘swipe’ at Benfica, André Villas-Boas also commented on the one-match suspension handed to Sporting striker Luis Suárez following the theft gesture the Colombian made during the first leg of the Portuguese Cup semi-finals against FC Porto, as well as the fact that the Disciplinary Board shelved the cases concerning the alleged assault by Luis Suárez on Jan Bednarek and by Hjulmand on Tiago Galletto, an AVS SAD player.

“On other fronts, the FPF Disciplinary Board decided to shelve the cases relating to the alleged assault by Luis Suárez on Bednarek and by Hjulmand on Tiago Galletto of AVS, after the different refereeing teams involved were heard on the matter and confirmed that they had seen the incidents and that they did not warrant disciplinary action. None of this is surprising, just as the future introduction of the white card in the Professional Leagues, in Luis Suárez’s wake, is not surprising either, since, in an attempt to win another penalty for Sporting, he quickly regretted it and apologized. What a pity Hjulmand did not show that same dignity in the Azores. The mouthpieces in the service of the green cloak wasted no time in expressing outrage at the best Portuguese referee, in a clear attempt to play down the ‘theft’ gestures the player directed at referee Cláudio Pereira, who left Alvalade branded a thief and with a glass bottle to the head, and which earned the player only one (!) match of suspension, almost conveniently aligned with the first game after the international break,” he wrote.

The postponement of Sporting’s match with Tondela also did not go unnoticed by the Porto president, who described the case as “one of the latest scandals shaking Liga Portugal”: “In another context, but in keeping with a chain of events that inadvertently always seem to benefit the usual club, FC Porto asked the League for clarification on the rescheduling of Sporting CP-Tondela, one of the latest scandals shaking Liga Portugal, after Sporting and the League decided, unilaterally and outside the scope of the Permanent Scheduling and Match Appointments Committee, to postpone a match in an unexpected and unfounded way, thus breaking the competition regulations. As such, the match will be played outside its proper time, outside the first available date (1 April) and under sporting conditions radically different from those that existed when it should have been played, with 29 April set as the date, on the assumption that the League’s wish to see a Portuguese team eliminated from the Champions League is fulfilled. Let no one be mistaken into thinking that the postponement was lawful under the 72-hour rule. Then came the slyness in support of that lie. This is no longer just about violating sporting truth: it is directly influencing the final outcome of the championship, both in the fight for the podium and in the battle to avoid relegation.”

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