Benfica's disciplinary complaint over the Clássico has been dismissed, with the Portuguese Football Federation's disciplinary council saying there was no evidence that the refereeing team acted passively or negligently. The case concerned seven incidents from the match against FC Porto, and the filing went in on 5 October after Benfica's 1-3 defeat at the Estádio do Dragão on matchday 7 of the Liga.
The council's reasoning
In comments reported by A Bola, the Professional Section of the Disciplinary Council said: "There is no evidence that the refereeing team adopted a passive or negligent stance. On the contrary, it is found that it sought to identify, prevent and sanction the observed behaviour through the regulatory mechanisms available to it, even if there may remain disagreement regarding some concrete decisions taken during the match."
The same body added: "Nothing in this prevents the Participant [Benfica] from disagreeing with the decisions made on the pitch by the refereeing team. That disagreement and the right to objective criticism of the referees' performance should not, however, be exercised through disciplinary complaints whose lack of grounds the Participant knows or should not be unaware of, under penalty of thereby subverting the normal exercise of sporting disciplinary action."
Benfica's complaint arrived during a strong spell on the pitch rather than a slump. The club have won four of their last five matches in all competitions, sit second in the Primeira Liga with 28 points from 11 games, and are chasing FC Porto, who lead the table with 33 points from 11 games.
Written by Sam Whitfield with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
