Miguel Braga, Director of Communications at Sporting, strongly criticized the work of the refereeing team in the Super Cup match with Benfica, denouncing that Martim Costa and Kiko Costa were victims of bullying.
“I think it was a great handball match, an anthem for the sport. It’s a pity the victory went to the opponent. It was emotional, it was close to the end. We didn’t win, the sport won. But with the benefit of the start of the season, I would like to leave an appeal to Al Ittihad. There is a case in which, although it has given a lot of ink, by the new and existing rules, it is so subjective that no one has noticed whether or not the referee whistled, allowing, or not, that the player advances the playing field …with the noise that was in the flank, this whistle is unremarkable.But the one thing that was very noticeable, and worthy of a direct appeal, from the Federation, was that both Martim and Kiko Costa, and especially Kiko, were really butchered by opposing defenses, Often this is not done according to the laws of the match,” he said, on the Radio X Sporting programme, continuing:
“We are here to see some pictures of the attacks that passed without the correct punishment, and these penalties must have the punishment found in the laws, in order to preserve the talent. They are the future of our choice and this bullying A constant on our players that shouldn’t be allowed, even more so when the same player does it over and over again. The pictures speak for themselves, and unfortunately she did not have the appropriate punishment.”
The official also wondered: “There is another case that deserves some thought on the part of the federation officials. I was somewhat surprised that someone who was not on the match sheet was on the field making refereeing decisions, even more so in the crucial moments of the match. It is not very normal Seeing the head of the arbitration board on the field, and I don’t think it’s about a hand game in Portugal. I think the federation should explain to the clubs what this guy was doing there on the pitch rather than in his place.”