Did football and fair play suffer a defeat on Saturday night in Portugal?
An unusual scene happened during the match of the Portuguese championship between Belenenses and Benfica.
Namely, the home team played against one of the best Portuguese teams with only nine players, two of them goalkeepers.
Of course, this is a notorious coronavirus pandemic.
Benfica had no mercy, but after the first 45 minutes of the game, they led with more than a convincing 7: 0.
They left Belenenses in the second half with only seven players, which is why the match was automatically stopped.
After the match, the first man of Belenenses came out in front of the cameras and was visibly upset.
- What happened at the game is a great shame, there are no rules or competition calendar that can justify this. I have never seen anything like this in my life, but I must emphasize that I am proud of the nine guys who were on the field – said the president of the club, Rui Pedro Soares.
As you might have guessed, Belenenses tried to postpone the match, but…
- Around noon, we contacted the leaders of the league and asked for a postponement, they replied that there were no elements for that, since we have eight players who can play. About two hours before the start of the match, I asked the leaders of Benfica to postpone the match, we contacted the league again, we got the same answer. The only alternative was not to appear at the game, and that would mean risking a penalty and deduction of two to five points, which is a lot for us – Soares added.
A reply arrived from Benfica. The word was given by the legendary Rui Costa, who is now the president of the club.
- First of all, I want to emphasize that I am sorry for everything that happened, this is a black page in Portuguese football and in the whole country. We just followed the rules. If we hadn’t shown up, we would have lost the match. We should all be ashamed of what happened, but I repeat that Benfica is not responsible for that. We didn’t care to play a match like this either. Neither I or anyone in the club is happy about this, I was also a player and I know how difficult it was for the football players on the field – said Costa.
Benfica also thinks that the alliance is to blame for everything!
- None of the clubs is to blame for this, we were forced to appear on the field. The league forced us with its rules and it is clear that something must change. I hope something like this never happens again. I feel sorry for the Belenenses player and I want them to recover as soon as possible. I want them to be on the field in full force as soon as possible – concluded Rui Costa.
How would you act if an opponent with only nine players came out in front of you?
