Eagles challenge Veríssimo's appointment with "four facts"

The season hasn't even officially started yet, and controversy is already swirling. And in this case, there didn't even need to be any real ground for these criticisms to be made – all it took was the appointment of Fábio Veríssimo for the Super Cup final at the Estádio do Algarve between Sporting and Benfica this Thursday at 8:45 pm. In a brief statement containing just four points, the Reds expressed several concerns about the decision to appoint the Leiria Football Association referee, recalling some matches from last season.

"Fact 1: The referee appointed to officiate the Super Cup, Fábio Veríssimo, finished fourth among the 24 referees in the Primeira Liga last season. Fact 2: Last season, Fábio Veríssimo was the referee who refereed Sporting the most times: six times. His mistakes in Famalicão and Vila das Aves, which benefited Sporting, became notorious," the Luz team began by pointing out in a statement posted to the club's media.

"Fact 3: He only refereed Benfica twice, and they lost both matches in question. Fact 4: Fábio Veríssimo was the referee for the Sporting-Benfica derby in the first round and ignored a clear penalty on Álvaro Carreras," adds the same text from the Reds, which appears 24 hours after the appointment was announced.

It should be remembered that, after all the controversy that followed the Portuguese Cup final at Jamor, also involving the Lions, namely the non-expulsion of Matheus Reis after stepping on Andrea Belotti's head (which was followed by complaints from several Lions players, with Geovany Quenda and Zeno Debast being punished with one game for situations related to the celebrations for winning the Championship and Matheus Reis receiving a five-match suspension, among other processes that are still ongoing), Benfica returned to this decision in mid-July, in this case to restore the VAR communications for that match.

"Jamor National Stadium, May 25, 2025. Benfica was winning the Portuguese Cup final 1-0 when, in the 90th minute, near the corner flag on the right side of the Eagles' attack, Belotti, lying on the pitch, was deliberately stepped on the head by Sporting's Matheus Reis, who was due a straight red card. On the field, the refereeing team did not issue a sanction; at the Cidade do Futebol, the VAR team distorted the sporting truth in the competition's decision. The recent ruling by the Disciplinary Board of the Portuguese Football Federation confirms the errors committed by VAR Tiago Martins and his assistants Vasco Santos and Sérgio Jesus in the 2024/25 Portuguese Cup final, to the clear detriment of Benfica," the statement began on July 13.

"About a month and a half after the match, the transcript of the conversations (over two minutes) that took place in the VAR room regarding Matheus Reis's deliberate footwork on Belotti proves the corruption of the facts and sporting truth. Watching the incident at the Cidade do Futebol, VAR Tiago Martins initially downplayed the incident with expressions like 'go ahead' and 'it was unintentional,' but eventually requested more footage, wanting to review it from another angle: 'But go ahead, go to that goal, go ahead, put it there,'" he continued, before describing the communications that took place until the Sporting player narrowly missed a penalty.

After the review, Tiago Martins has no doubts: 'This is a red, this is a red, I'm going to call it.' The first assistant AVAR, Vasco Santos, agrees with the VAR's assessment: 'For me, it's a red.' The second assistant AVAR, Sérgio Jesus, informs that 'the game has restarted.' 'For me, it's a red,' Vasco Santos reaffirms. Sérgio Jesus argues: 'But the game had already restarted, you can't intervene.' Vasco Santos counters: 'The game is stopped, it's violent conduct.' Tiago Martins decides he must communicate with Luís Godinho: 'I'm going to call it, put the footage there, this is violent conduct.' 'It was before he stopped, [...] exactly, he can't do it anymore,' Vasco Santos then considers. And Sérgio Jesus tries to dissuade the VAR: 'The game is ongoing, in the meantime, it's restarted.' Tiago Martins reinforces: 'It's still violent conduct, the ball isn't there, it's a stamp on the head.' Nine seconds later, Tiago Martins gave up arguing with the AVARs and abandoned his intention to warn referee Luís Godinho about Matheus Reis's violent behavior: "Okay, fine, go ahead." The game continued, and the mistakes had a direct impact on the outcome, preventing Benfica from winning and depriving them of a title that would have been theirs on merit," he noted.