Portugal: Belenenses-Benfica, the match of “shame” – Maxifoot

The match between Belenenses and Benfica on Saturday night is a lot of talk in Portugal. Described as shame, this meeting could not start eleven against eleven.

Shame. This is how the front page of the Portuguese daily A Bola describes a match that everyone is talking about in Portugal this Sunday morning. And for good reason, the meeting between Benfica and Belenenses, Saturday evening, started 11 against… 9!

Belenenses forced to play 9, with two goalkeepers

With fourteen players absent due to Covid-19, Belenenses was forced to field a team of nine elements, including a goalkeeper as a striker. What is that ? Am I the only one not understanding why the match was not postponed Manchester City striker Bernardo Silva raged on his Twitter account on Saturday.

We didn’t want to play this game, but we were told that we had eight qualified players. So the fact of not appearing could be considered an unjustified absence , explained the president of Belenenses, Rui Pedro Soares, in the columns of Record.

The referee stops the masquerade

Men 0-7 at the break, Belenenses entered the second half with seven players, then Joao Monteiro predicted an injury, forcing the referee to call a final stop for this match, since the laws of the game require at least seven. players per team. I regret what happened, it’s a black page in the history of Portuguese football and the country , reacted the president of Benfica, Rui Costa. The general direction of health and the League did not cancel the match and we could not do it ourselves.

The Portuguese players’ union also reacted to express its anger. What happened tonight (Saturday) is absolutely unacceptable and cannot happen again. There are values ​​that are more important than any competition or timing requirement, namely the health of the athletes and the integrity of the competition. , said its president Joaquim Evangelista in remarks reported by A Bola. It’s a shame for everyone except the nine who played , concludes, rightly, Rui Pedro Soares.

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