THE This Thursday, Benfica qualified for the semi-finals of the League Cup (where they will face FC Porto, who beat Académico de Viseu, 1-0), by receiving and beating Gil Vicente, by a resounding 4-1, in a match that was marked by controversy surrounding the use of Jhon Durán.
The Colombian international, remember, had been sent off in the Reds’ last game (win over Santa Clara, for the I League, 1-2), but was decriminalized, and was able to be chosen as a starter (with a goal on his personal account), a circumstance that was worthy of harsh criticism from Luís Pinto, in the press conference that followed the final whistle.
“I hope, against Vitória SC, to have Espi (Antonio Espigares) available, because I also want to have a game available, after being sent off (…). We have to be aware of what we want for our football. I am and will always be a supporter of Portuguese football, regardless of the club I am at and which I defend”, he began by stating.
“If we want a more competitive championship, if we want more competitive cups, we have to understand very well that all the decisions we make, and one is to decriminalize a player on the eve of a game who was sent off in the previous game… It’s an attitude that can put a lot of things in question, and those many things in question are the seriousness of the people who are in charge of football”, he continued.
“I’m not questioning Benfica’s victory, nor am I failing to congratulate Marco, as I did, at the end of the game, and to the Benfica team and structure for passing. That’s not what’s in question. What’s in question is what we want for Portuguese football. This doesn’t dignify Portuguese football at all. There were more options”, he added.
“If Durán couldn’t play today, forget the sporting truth”
Marco Silva, for his part, also in front of journalists, applauded Jhon Durán’s decriminalization: “Not knowing all the ‘timings’, I tried to find out about meetings and when the punishments came out, I had no idea before this game. Obviously, after Santa Clara, I tried to find out, and, from the moment we knew there was a meeting in time, I always had a lot of hope that Jhon Durán could be in the game”.
“If it weren’t for Durán, (Vangelis) Pavlidis would have played. I understood all of Luís’ statements and his frustration because a lot of what he said has nothing to do with this game in particular. He even talks about the way the games are paired up and ends up offering congratulations on the way the ‘final four’ is organized. It seemed to me that he talked a lot about the way the path to getting there is prepared,” he said.
“I’m not the right person to talk about this. The calendar is set up this way and I’m not going to make any comment about it. I had a lot of hope that Durán would be decriminalized because he did absolutely nothing. I understand the frustration, but if we want the sporting truth… If Durán couldn’t play today, forget the sporting truth because it didn’t exist, it was a mistake to have been sent off when he didn’t do anything to get sent off”, he concluded.
