Top official eyes Alverca v Benfica refereeing: “Here’s what worries us…” | OneFootball

Benfica, before the first break of the season for national team commitments, pulled off a hard-fought victory against Alverca, in a match where the refereeing left much to be desired. At the end of the match, Mário Branco, General Director of the reds, discussed what happened on the field and stated that the Club da Luz will be 'alert and vigilant' to what has been happening.

Before analyzing the work carried out by the team led by José Bessa, the red director began by highlighting the 'sacrifice' made by the Glorious players: “After one of the most challenging and demanding pre-seasons of Benfica, with practically no holidays, they managed to achieve with distinction the three objectives we set ourselves: winning the Super Cup, entering the Champions League phase and winning the championship games, in this case, the three we played”.

About the match against Alverca, Mário Branco acknowledged that there were some difficulties: “Regarding today's game, a difficult game, on a pitch, just like in Estrela, that left a bit to be desired, and from the moment we were reduced to 10 elements, the fatigue from the Champions League game began to show. Before the breaks for the national teams, this type of games is always difficult”.

After Bruno Lage harshly criticized the refereeing, Mário Branco, in turn, raised doubts about it: “What concerns us and about which we will be alert and vigilant is whether these types of refereeing criteria will be maintained throughout the season”.

“We ended up receiving a yellow card for every two fouls we committed. It seems extremely strict and even illogical considering the type of game we played here. I want us all to be alert, we will be vigilant and perfectly identified with this type of things”, finally concluded the General Director of Benfica.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.