The president of FC Porto, Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa, said this Sunday that the Benfica manager, Rui Costa, is the father of his predecessor Luís Filipe Vieira, after a new participation of the ‘incarnated’ that involves the ‘dragons’.
“For me, [o processo] It does not represent anything or surprise, especially since we cannot forget that the president of Benfica was the dauphin of Luís Filipe Vieira. I have known him since then with Vieira, who always presented him as his dauphin and successor, and maintains a certain school that was also from that time at Benfica. It is natural that each one follow his teacher ”, he shot to the journalists, outside the act of renewal of the defender and captain Pepe, who extended his contract for one more season, until June 2024.
Benfica announced on Friday that it had participated in the Disciplinary Council (CD) of the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF), highlighting that the statements made two days before by the Porto manager “try to condition the referees” until the end of the match. First League.
In the usual editorial of the ‘Dragões’ magazine, Pinto da Costa expressed confidence in the revalidation of the title, “as long as the sporting truth prevails in all the matches, which has not always happened this year”, at a time when FC Porto is in second, with 70 points, one behind leader Benfica, which hosts Estoril Praia today, in a duel on matchday 29.
“I wrote the same editorial again naturally and without fear of punishment. I repeat: the one who has a school that has oriented him in a certain way is the one who can find that offensive. It doesn’t make any extra sense, because [Rui Costa] he was never my colleague as a player. Back when I was playing Infest, it didn’t exist yet. He was a player on another level, but I had more contact when he was Delfín and heir to the Vieira legacy. Nothing surprises me,” added the president of the ‘dragons’ today.
On Thursday, the CD of the FPF confirmed that it opened a disciplinary process against the SAD of FC Porto, the administrator Vítor Baia and the coach Sérgio Conceição, taking into account the participations presented by Benfica and the federative Arbitration Council (CA).
On April 14, in full anticipation of FC Porto’s reception of the red lantern Santa Clara, on matchday 28 of the championship, which the ‘blue and whites’ won 2-1, Sérgio Conceição had mentioned that “there cannot be two weights and two measures ” of the refereeing teams in matches in which the first two classified in the competition participate.
Vítor Baía, exfutbolista and current administrator of the SAD and vice-president of the ‘blanquiazules’, asked that same day that “the errors that influence the results are not repeated”.
“Of course, mistakes have always been made and what I say in the editorial is to hope that there are no mistakes that influence the results, as there have been this year and everyone knows it. I did not say that there were errors on purpose, nor errors due to dishonesty, because to err is human. Now, you know very well that there were mistakes. I don’t even need to mention Vitória de Guimarães-Benfica [0-0, na oitava ronda] or in Vizela-Benfica [vitória dos ‘encarnados’ por 0-2, na 22.ª]. They are mistakes”, acknowledged today Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa.
Source: TSF
