The president of Sporting, Frederico Varandas, responded to FC Porto’s accusations regarding an alleged control of refereeing by the Lions and also commented on the controversial derby at the Dragão.
“I think you should know that the president of FC Porto is a member of the UEFA Club Competitions Committee. I would like you to ask the president of FC Porto if he suggests, at the elite level of football, stealing the balls when you’re winning 1-0. Then, taking the towel away from the goalkeeper. Is this what he proposes? In the UEFA Committee? I have a suggestion for the president of FC Porto… Let him do this now in the Europa League round of 16. You know that here they play around with the Disciplinary Board. The Fábio Veríssimo case seems to be over already. FC Porto was fined more than 12,000 euros for what happened. You had access to FC Porto’s justification. It was a mere oversight. An oversight why? Because FC Porto analyzes, during the first half, the controversial refereeing incidents and sends them to the coaches. And can you believe they also assess incidents from youth matches? From a SC Braga-FC Porto youth game… They also analyze youth matches. This is the Disciplinary Board’s justification. They lie. I thought the justification would be ‘the president didn’t know.’ But no, there’s lying,” he said to journalists.
“What I know is that, if I got home, looked at my children, and they knew that Sporting did this, I would die of shame. We’re not talking about winning or losing. That’s part of life. But what defines us is the way we act in victory and in defeat. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. If these Fábio Veríssimo episodes, stealing towels, telling the ball boys to take the balls away, happened at this Sporting, I wouldn’t have the ethical standing to be president of Sporting,” he added, when asked if the atmosphere would become even more unsustainable.
“I control Sporting’s actions. It’s not Sporting that comments on appointments before matches, it’s not Sporting that has these episodes in a game it organizes… It hurts a lot when these things happen and it’s very easy to criticize the president. No, because the problem with Portuguese football lies with the leaders. Leadership like this doesn’t help, everyone has their own skeletons. Have the courage to name names. We are not all the same and no, we do not do the same things,”