Doubtful referees in Sporting games: it’s no longer “by chance”

There is a lot of talk about a disallowed goal but no visible penalty was scored in favor of Santa Clara.

“When you come to Alvalade, score three goals and don’t get points, it’s difficult – three goals because it’s three goals. Everyone saw it, I don’t want to feed the refereeing, but it is what it is, it’s the football we have, it’s the league we want to promote. There are a lot of artists there to comment on…”.

The words are from Gonçalo Patience, who scored 2 goals in a few minutes in the Sporting-Santa Clarabut only one counted.

Sporting won by (more) one game with dubious decisions by the refereeing team in a Sporting game.

The big controversy already started in the last game of last season: in the game between Sporting and Benfica, among other questionable moves, Matheus Reis stepped on Belotti’s face and hit his opponent’s ear with his boot, already outside the four lines.

This season, among several games with complaints from opponents, duels with one team stand out: Santa Clara.

Way back in November, in the first game, the refereeing team “invented” a corner kick – none of the referees will have a clear view from where they were; a corner that led to the winning goal (2-1) for Sporting in the Azores, right in second-half stoppage time.

A month later, on the same stage, with the same teams, but for the Portuguese Cup: 12 minutes for the referee to decide if there was penalty (very doubtful) in favor of Sporting – who tied at that moment, in the 90th minute, when they were almost out of the Cup. Alvalade’s men would win 3-2 in extra time.

Last night, new “soap opera”.

Much is said about Gonçalo Paciência disallowed goalbut Pedro Henriques assures that the video referee did “very well”: the goal should have been disallowed, as it was: there was a foul on Faye by Vinicius – despite the Sporting player’s foul in the previous second. “One foul does not cancel out another,” warns the former referee.

But there were very doubtful moments before this move.

The first was in the 7th minute: Gabriel Silva entered the Sporting area alone, from the side, he was in front of goalkeeper Rui Silva, but the play was soon interrupted. Alleged foul by the Santa Clara player on Ricardo Mangas – but Sleeves… fell off by itself. It is not known whether it would be a goal for Santa Clara; but the referee’s decision was hasty, clearly wrong.

This unusual moment even reached Spain:

It happened at Sporting-Santa Clara, in the middle of the fight for the Portuguese league. Porto and Benfica, direct pursuers, have complained on social networks.

✍️ AStv

— Diario AS (@diarioas)

Benfica also complained:

THERE IS NO SHAME ANYMORE!

— SL Benfica (@SLBenfica)

Benfica spoke of “shame” about this and other moments of the game in Alvalade. One of them was the big penalty at 19 minutes, which led to the equalizer. It’s true that Guilherme Romão touches Geny Catamo – but it’s also true that it’s Catamo putting his leg forward on purpose, waiting for (eventual) contact. A “trick” that is done countless times in football, by the way.

But the most dubious move happened in the 92nd minute: in a corner, Flávio Gonçalves pulls Henrique Silva’s shirt (which forced the fall) inside the Sporting area. No penalty was awarded. And the play was counting, the game was happening, contrary to what was said live on Sport TV.

FC Porto also saw:

What is the criteria for this journey?

— FC Porto (@FCPorto)

Third game between Sporting and Santa Clara of the season, third game with controversy: “Yeah, nothing is by chance. I wasn’t at the others, but today that’s what we saw”, commented Gonçalo Paciência after the match.

The next morning, Jose Mourinho highlighted two sports newspapers that show that “nothing is happening”.

“Beautiful pages with a boy who played, was a birthday boy and scored a goal, but they make those who didn’t see the game think that nothing happened. And it’s on this basis of ‘it seems like nothing happens’ that we’ve seen since the beginning of the season. And that’s the problem. We’re focusing on what happened recently but We forgot the Nacional game, the game in Famalicão, the game in Alvalade with Famalicão… We forget a lot of things from the beginning of the season. I don’t really know what I should say, but focusing only – and only – on not going any further, in three games with Santa Clara… It’s all there”, summarized the Benfica coach, this Saturday, suggesting that the Sporting is benefiting from referees at different times of the season.

Sporting beat Santa Clara 4-2, in the 28th round of the championship. It is, for now, 4 points behind leader FC Porto.