Pinto da Costa returned to the Extraordinary General Assembly (AGE) on November 13 last year, which in some ways brought about a huge change in the reality of FC Porto.
In an interview with TVI, the former leader of the white-blues also spoke about Fernando Madureira, who was detained as part of Operation Praetorian, which was provoked by that very black night.
“I am not setting fire to anyone, but I think he was imprisoned unfairly. At no point in the extraordinary general meeting did he attack anyone. He has never attacked anyone. There was a general meeting of accounts in which André Villas-Boas voted against, and when he left, the person who took him to the car was Fernando Madureira. He had no problem with André Villas-Boas. He had his convictions, he had fans who filled the stadiums. It was sad for the Azores to see those stands,” Pinto da Costa said, later commenting on the enrichment of the former leader of the Super Dragões.
“I think he made some money, he had an agreement that he bought tickets for x, someone stayed in the crowd, someone sold them to earn money for travel expenses. According to them, he made some money…” – said Pinto da Costa.
As for Macaco, he then concluded: “Is it thanks to me that you have such a fortune? No. I had an agreement with Porto that was fulfilled. I went to get the tickets and paid the previous amount. If I had earned money from the tickets later, the problems would no longer be ours. I consider him a friend. If he were a drug dealer, I would not be surprised if he did it. We have already spoken about the strength of FC Porto. More about me than about him.”
Finally, regarding the attacks on AGE, he continues to rule out any responsibility: “It was very well prepared. We never saw any incentive from André Villas-Boas’s team to film everything, to be in a group… Who goes to the Attorney General and asks them to film, because he knows that there is everything that can be filmed. And there was a strange thing: three prosecutors, members of FC Porto, were there to monitor AGE. There was a complaint from a prosecutor. There was an instrumentalization of this group with the collaboration of the Ministry of Justice.”