A former director for Portuguese football club Benfica has accused Sporting Lisbon’s president of preventing one of his players from speaking about a controversial incident in the recent Portuguese Cup final. João Malheiro, who also works as a commentator, claimed Sporting President Frederico Varandas silenced Matheus Reis regarding an incident where Reis appeared to step on an opposing player, Belotti.
Malheiro made the accusation on the CMTV program ‘Liga D’Ouro.’ He called Varandas a “herald of morality” who exhibited “demagoguery and hypocrisy” by not allowing the player to acknowledge a mistake.
“Matheus Reis was prevented from speaking. When it was easy to say ‘I made a mistake’,” Malheiro stated. “Is the president a herald of morality when he does not allow the player to speak?”
Malheiro’s comments followed an ironic statement by Varandas at the ‘Rugidos de Leão’ Gala. Varandas had sarcastically dismissed Benfica’s complaints about the Reis incident, suggesting Reis was being unfairly blamed for everything in the match.
“Sporting had more shots, more possession, more clear chances, more corners, more passes,” Varandas said. “The fault of Renato Sanches committing a childish penalty was Matheus’s. The fault of Matheus scoring the goal was Matheus’s. The fault of Harder scoring the second goal was Matheus’s.”
Malheiro further criticized Varandas by recalling a historical incident. He referenced the 2009 League Cup final, where Sporting felt prejudiced by a referee’s decision involving Lucílio Batista and a disputed penalty against Benfica.
“In March 2009, Benfica won a League Cup where a bad decision by Lucílio Batista had an impact,” Malheiro explained. He noted that Sporting had “talked about the Lucílio Batista Cup for years” after Benfica equalized with a penalty that was not one, going on to win.