“Regarding referee Fábio Veríssimo, FC Porto considers it important to note that, after the end of the last FC Arouca-FC Porto match, and in front of several witnesses, the referee in question threatened Club officials with expulsions and other forms of intimidation, threats that, in FC Porto’s understanding, came to fruition in last Sunday’s game. What happened will be the subject of a report to the Disciplinary Board, so that the aforementioned referee can explain the motivations for this conduct which, in FC Porto’s opinion, not only violates duties to which he is bound, as constitutes persecutory behavior”emphasize the Porto fans.
From FC Porto’s perspective, “serious problems persist in arbitration in Portugal, such as the duality of criteria, the lack of uniformity in decisions and the permanent conditioning of arbitrations before and after games by direct and indirect participants (some allegedly linked to sports societies)”. “Additionally, there continue to be, season after season, attempts to launder capital bids with a direct impact on the results through the coordinated behavior of commentators with privileged relationships within decision-making bodies”, can be read in note published on the official dragons website.
The northern emblem listed “concrete examples” from this season that benefited rivals Benfica and Sporting: “the move involving Sudakov in Guimarães; the expulsions forgiven for Richard Ríos in Amadora and Alverca; the penalty awarded in the SL Benfica-CD Tondela game; the expulsion forgiven for Gonçalo Inácio in Famalicão; the penalty for scoring in favor of SC Braga in Alvalade; and the expulsion forgiven to Diomande last Friday, against FC Alverca.”