"There are things that go beyond all limits"

STATEMENTS

"There are things that go beyond all limits" - the President of Sport Lisboa e Benfica, Rui Costa, criticized the refereeing of the Portuguese Cup final, at Jamor, listing a series of facts and bad decisions that severely harmed the eagles.

"HOW CAN A VAR NOT SEE A DOUBLE ASSAULT ON A BENFICA PLAYER?"

"It's been a tough couple of weeks for us. We lost the league title, fighting for it until the last matchday, and today we lost a Portuguese Cup final where it wasn't enough to be superior. We were superior for the whole game, and ended up conceding a goal in the last minute of an extra time that lasted 10 minutes. You've known me for many years, it's not my habit to pass on my responsibilities, or the responsibilities of my team, to others. And whenever Benfica doesn't win, or whenever it loses a competition, I'm always here to admit responsibility for that failure, as happened today. I have not been a quarrelsome president in terms of refereeing, I rarely talk about refereeing, I am often even penalized internally by my own people for not speaking out about refereeing. It's the way I am in football, but it seems that there are a lot of people who don't want it to be that way. I take responsibility for not winning this Portuguese Cup, which is a tremendous shame, because the team worked hard for it, was superior throughout the game and ended up being penalized at the last second, but there are situations that go beyond all limits. And I'd ask you to look at the 94th minute move [in stoppage time] on the end line, where Belotti on the ground is assaulted by two Sporting players. And we're talking about the 94th minute! Assaulted by two Sporting players, one with a deliberate elbow to Belotti's head, and, not only that, there's a deliberate, purposeful stomp on Belotti's head, and the foul was still against Benfica. And we're talking about the 94th minute. No matter how much responsibility we have, no matter how much responsibility I have internally to evaluate, even for myself, even with myself, there are things that go beyond all limits. I'm very confused as to how a VAR, who can give Dahl a simulation, who can cancel out Benfica's second goal, can't see a double assault on a Benfica player, and from that a foul is given against us. This was in the 94th minute, and I ask you to follow that play. Not only that, in the 95th minute, Otamendi is elbowed in the face by a Sporting player who has already been yellow-carded, and the move continues. So, there are too many moves, too many moves from a crucial phase of the game not to question what happened here today. Benfica lost, I accept that responsibility, but we have to look at Portuguese football. We definitely have to look at Portuguese football. I'd like to see a move of this nature in Benfica's favor, which hasn't happened all week. So, let those in charge of refereeing, let those in charge of the referees analyze this game and see how a VAR that can cancel out two situations for Benfica can't see two plays like this. He's probably going to be rewarded now and become the leader of VAR in Portugal, which is an extraordinary thing. I repeat: you've rarely heard me talk about referees, but there are situations that go beyond that. I've tried, I've tried to be a president of an institution the size of Benfica that is responsible and tries to help Portuguese football in this regard. But there are situations that go beyond all limits, because these aren't mistakes that we should be discussing here: whether it was a foul, whether it wasn't a foul, whether it was a penalty, whether it wasn't a penalty. We're talking about two clear, obvious assaults, not seen either by the linesman, who was standing next to the play, or by the referee, or by the VAR. And that foul was even awarded against us for a trapped ball. I think it's extraordinary, and I think there are limits to everything."

"WHAT HAPPENED HERE TODAY REQUIRES AN IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS OF PORTUGUESE FOOTBALL"

"Although I'm not - and I apologize to Benfica fans for this too - a president who likes to talk about refereeing... I like to look inwards, I like to analyze mistakes internally, I like to make sure that my players don't feel uncomfortable, but at the same time, what happened here today is an in-depth analysis of Portuguese football. From the 10 minutes of stoppage time to the key plays in the game, to these two plays that I'm telling you about... We're talking about the 94th [minute of stoppage time] and the 95th minute, in a game that had 10 minutes of stoppage time."