Sporting beat Benfica 4-2 to win the Futsal League Cup this Sunday at the Povoa de Varzim Municipal Stadium. The game ended in a controversial play that led to the Eagles requesting a replay.
Less than two minutes later, with the score 2:3 in favor of Sporting, athlete “Leo” Tynan in a vest invaded the field and interrupted the game of the “Reds”, who were approaching the opponent’s goal.
The gesture caused huge outrage on the Eagles bench, but the referee’s decision after reviewing the images did nothing to calm the mood. Faced with a request for a sending off, the match referee showed a yellow card.
Soon after, Sporting would score their final goal and Tynan would be crowned man of the match.
Angry Benfica coach calls Sporting athlete a “vandal”
After the end of the match, the first reaction of displeasure came from the words of Benfica coach Mario Silva in a statement to Canal 11.
“If situations like this come with a yellow card and there is no severe punishment for those who enter, I don’t know where we will end up. What will happen in sports in 2024 is something… It’s hard for me to define it. I’m leaving sad, not because of the loss or the performance, because we are better. The Derby cannot be open to everyone,” he said.
Moments later at a press conference, Mario Silva was more harsh and called the athlete who starred in the scandalous moment a “vandal.”
“What happened here was a disgrace. What I witnessed was a scam. We sent a message that everything is going to win. What they did to Benfica is unacceptable. Firstly, the attitude of an athlete who is not an athlete, he is a vandal. Secondly, because of the decision of the arbitration team,” he said, as quoted by Write down.
The Sporting coach played down the moment by asking: “Sporting won with this move?”
Benfica responded with a statement and asks to repeat the meeting
The outrage over what happened at the meeting did not end until the club issued a statement asking for the meeting to be repeated.
“Sport Lisbon and Benfica will lodge a protest with the Portuguese Football Federation and demand a repeat of the League Cup final,” the club said.
The Eagles described a “very serious precedent” and accused Tynan of “not living up to the values required in sport”. “A player has only been given a yellow card when the rules are clear and require, at a minimum, that he be sent off.”
Author: morning Post
Source: CM Jornal
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