Porto Win Title At Benfica, Forced To Celebrate In The Dark (Video)

Chris Wright

4th, April 2011

21 Comments

By Chris Wright

After raking in a frankly marvellous haul of 71 points from 75 available, Porto mathematically clinched the Portuguese league title with a 2-1 victory over rivals Benfica on Benfica’s patch (named, rather ironically, the ‘Stadium of Light’) at the weekend and duly celebrated on the pitch until the nasty spoilsports in the facilities department at the Estadio da Luz turned the floodlights off and the sprinkler system on…

http://youtu.be/K0TZ1cCutJU

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21 Comments

  1. lawrence says:

    so benfica and barcelona (sprinklers) have he same grounds crew? both teams are classless.

  2. Pedro says:

    This is quite incredible. No one seems to want to mention that Porto were found guilty of SPORTING CORRUPTION by our own league. There are recordings of their president offering ‘fruit’ and ‘coffee with milk’,i.e., prostitutes, to referees and while they were found guilty, they were docked 6 POINTS in a season when they won the league with a 20 point lead. There have been stories of corruption floating about for many years but for around 2 years now there have been ACTUAL RECORDINGS you can hear on youtube. It is as bad as Tapie’s Marseille in ’93 and much, much worse than the ‘calciopoli’ scandal in Italy where teams actually got RELEGATED. They have such an impressive haul this season because they have not had a bad refereeing decision against them in all of the matches played so far, unlike Benfica, who have been denied points in at least two matches (seems small, but small margins matter in this league) through not given penalties, having been disallowed clear goals, having had players ludicrously sent off, etc..

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIj_L9Qw1fY

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiJZ-u4nSFs

    In any other league, this would amount to no more than a conspiracy theory. However, given that there are RECORDINGS of Porto’s president actively bribing referees and that the only penalty they suffered were 6 out of 20 points docked, I think it’s legitimate to call into question the fairness of the whole competition. It’s a downright embarrassment that UEFA have their hands tied over this and corruption is allowed to go unpunished in such a blatant way.

    Porto were better this year on the pitch, despite everything, but how are we to know how they would have performed under the pressure of actually having to worry about any competitors? It’s a travesty and Benfica were made to sweat to win it last year while playing the best football in the country for well over a decade while Porto lose only 4 (!!) points in 25 matches while playing well but with several dubious 1-0 wins along the way. If this doesn’t raise alarm flags, I don’t know what does.

  3. Pedro says:

    lawrence: See my post above. Porto refused to walk onto the pitch with the kids wearing Benfica kits, Benfica players were hit by golf balls on the pitch at the Dragão, for two years now the team bus has been heavily stoned while travelling up North (Aimar sustained an injury in one of those trips), the club’s fan houses (for lack of a better description, in Portuguse “Casa do Benfica”) up North have been thrashed and Benfica fans are regularly harassed and intimidated in trips up North and their players were even suspended after assaulting stewards inside the Benfica stadium last year.

    Turning off the lights was a poor decision on safety grounds, but Porto are the genuinely classless ones here and are genuinely corrupt to boot. When the law is not upheld, people tend to get angry and take it into their own hands. It’s not right, but is it right for corruption to go unpunished? I think not.

  4. Nuno says:

    @Pedro
    As a Benfica fan, it upsets me what happened yesterday. What you’re saying is all very beautifull, but by doing what Benfica done we’ve just ‘lowered’ ourselves to Porto’s level. We were sore loosers and there’s no denying it. Next time, if/when Benfica become champions in Porto’s stadium, they now have two choices: do just the same thing we did (“reciprocity principle”, remember…).
    There were favorable decisions towards Porto, there were favorable decisions towards Benfica. Period. Porto WERE worthy winners (“71 points from 75 available”).
    Just had to submit my comment so you’d see not all Benfica fans agreed to what happened yesterday.

  5. Nuno says:

    Sorry, forgot one point:
    Porto now have two choices if we come to their stadium champions: do just the same thing we did (“reciprocity principle”, remember…) or do nothing and say they were better than us.
    Both Porto and Benfica play some pleasant football sometimes, but I’m getting sick and tired of the extra-football discussions: there is as much to argue against Porto this year as there’s against Benfica last year (mostly Di Maria’s diving and whining).
    Porto were champions. Period. There’s more to come next year.

  6. Dan says:

    @nuno
    as a benfiquista im sure you know that if we won the league in the dragao, portistas would take the 3rd option, namely throw golfballs at us, which is probably worse than turning the lights off.

    it’s disappointing to see people labelling benfica as classless for turning the lights off and sprinklers on considering all that porto do, especially when every portuguese fan knows that more goes on than is reported

  7. Dan says:

    @pedro
    dont forget that while nothing happened to porto, porto’s rivals boavista actually did get demoted, because of apito dourado

  8. Tom Jones says:

    Typical Portugal

  9. Dan says:

    As a neutral in this matter, I think turning off the lights and turning on the sprinklers made the celebration even more special. Because it’s obvious that the loss was so painful to Benfica that they were willing to face public embarrassment to try to stop it.

    No shouts of past injustice or description of Port’s female genitalia will make that pain go away.

    Quoting a friend of mine, “I want to taste their tears!!”

  10. Pedro says:

    @Nuno: Dí Maria diving = Actively bribing officials? That’s a joke. I disagree with retaliation as a matter of principle because I think it does lower us to their standards and the lights out in particular because of safety concerns, but you understand people’s frustrations because of the IMPUNITY of their actions. They would probably have won anyway this year (mostly thanks to our own defensive failings, which were brutally highlighted in Europe), but we simply will never know because there is REASONABLE doubt given the fact that they WERE corrupt and that they still have an influence over who is in charge of the league. To say that they got 71 points out of 75 fairly is one thing. To say we deserve our current point haul is not given the atrocious refereeing decisions we’ve endured this season (as highlighted above).

    @Dan: Exactly. Boavista is on the brink of disappearing because of the actions of people still heavily involved with professional football in the country, while their fans have to fret over the future of the club. It’s disgusting and for it not to have been dealt with appropriately is a genuine slight on European football.

    @Tom Jones: Very true, but the way football is run by the media in this country is only slightly less grimy than the goings on in southern Europe. Banning a player for swearing while largely ignoring the racist abuse by West Ham fans at their own fans? Pathetic and tells you all you need to know about the mentality of the English press.

  11. Pedro says:

    Should read *at their own players, of course.

  12. V says:

    Go, go, Futebol Corrupto do Porto.

    Benfica didn’t deserve the title simply due to the fact they bought this massive cunt of a goalkeeper named Roberto.

  13. Torresmos says:

    I´m portuguese and I don´t support either of these clubs.

    I find very amusing that the same Benfica fans that come here saying that Porto are corrupt forget to refer the fact that their President was recorded in a phone call chosing, or boycotting, referees in a Benfica Cup game.
    Some of these bitter and classless fans also have the nerve to say that Porto won this year´s League with the help of corruption (16 points clear with 5 games to go and two victories over former champions 5-0 and 1-2) In this particular game, Benfica´s goal comes through a non-existing penalty, their keeper should have been sent off when he comited the penalty that gave Porto´s 2nd goal, that Otamendi´s sending off is a joke bigger than their ego, and that Aimar and Coentrao should have taken an early bath in the first half.

    Like Dan said about this floodlights and sprinklers situation: “As a neutral in this matter, I think turning off the lights and turning on the sprinklers made the celebration even more special. Because it’s obvious that the loss was so painful to Benfica that they were willing to face public embarrassment to try to stop it.”
    This.
    And proves that they are Portugal´s Man.Utd. Sore loosers, classless cunts from everywhere around the country and everyone who doesn´r know anything about the game supports them, in the vain hope than once every 15 years they can celebrate a win which is not their own…
    Served them right to get played of the park at their own home, and sharing with the world how painfull it was by resorting t this juvenile behaviour.

  14. Pedro says:

    @Torresmos: The practice of first refusal of referees, particularly in cup matches, is widespread. This is precisely what was happening in Italy and while there it lead (unfairly, some would argue) to only some teams being punished, were it to be enforced on the basis of actual evidence then all the big teams in Portugal would be punished. And I would applaud it vigorously. There is a difference, however, in refusing a referee because you think he is biased (think Fergie refusing to have Atkinson referee Man United’s matches) and actively bribing referees with prostitutes, and I don’t think you can argue that the difference is small, immaterial or merely formal.

    No one is claiming that, as a matter of fact, Porto won their points through corruption. What I am saying is that there is enough cause for concern given the atrociously bad refereeing against Benfica in some matches (so biased it beggared belief) and at crucial stages in the season while Porto go on undefeated despite not having played that brilliantly on a consistent basis.

    You belie your affiliation (just like in England there are the ABU, in Portugal there are those who boast of not having a particular affiliation other than hating Benfica, presumably because of daddy issues) in your analysis of the match, however. Our penalty was certainly soft, but the Otamendi did put his hands around him and his second yellow is the clearest yellow card you will ever see. As for your comment of two Benfica players being sent off, well, stupid and biased don’t even begin to do it justice.

    As for us being classless cunts, envy and bitterness are the defining traits of inconsequential vermin. The same kind of traits that lead them to overlook corruption and foul play just to ensure success, however tainted. The same can be said about fans in England who will relish at any punishment handed out to Man United’s players, regardless of there being any precedence or shred of fairness – it’s pathetic and defines you as being small.

  15. V says:

    As you guys can see, folks back in Portugal are either Benfica fans, or Benfica anti-fans. They do, ocasionally, support a club of their own in their spare time… sometimes.

  16. Dan says:

    it also shows how classless(that word has become a cliché on this page) porto are that when they win they sing against benfica, not for porto, they always sing filho da puta slb

    it shows what porto are really like if u ask me, are benfica really on tripeiros’ name all the time?

  17. soccer fan says:

    Benfica is probably the mirror of those fallen dictators who still lie but no one takes seriously. Its a team that use mass media teck to make lies become truth… But they cant so they pay people to lie (like the Ex girlfriend of the president who was paid by a very proeminent fascist called Leonor Pinhao) They will lie, insult, corrupt the press but since the dictatorship of SALAZAR fell in 1974 they won nothing important. They are probably the club in portugal who makes every year more and more fans of true Football (Soccer) Become ANTI-BENFICA. The videos of riots of gangs from benfica are all over the web, the suporters of there team killed a sporting fan some years ago… Benfica is trully one of the most hated club in portugal (but loved too by many many blinded fans). look the behavior they have, turning the lights off, prohibite porto fans to take merchandising like flags to the stadium, turn the water system on so they couldnt celebrate… and some time ago they burned a bus Rented by FC.Porto http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=No-2VJOl3lI
    They are the SHAME of this small but pround Country.

  18. Bino says:

    @Pedro

    Tell the whole story next time. Porto refused to take hands with the children because they were ALL with Benfica shirts, instead of there being 11 kids with Portos shirts and 11 with Benfica as it’s supposed to be. It was a provocation by Benficas part.

    The “recordings” proved nothing, the prostitute that lied in the book, protected by Benficas staff, was proven to be lying with indisputable evidence. In the supposed games in the “recordings” NOTHING happened, and Porto even lost one of them. Benfica’s president was also caught on tape for a cup game (same as Porto)

    Benfica had stewerds where they weren’t allowed to be to provoke players, they did it with Porto, they did it with Braga, they did it with Academica. In the end it payed out for Benfica GREATLY.

    Benfica’s manager, Jorge Jesus, hit 2 players, in 2 different matches, IN PLAIN sight of everyone. Nothing happened.

    And the icing on the cake is, Porto did 4 matches against Benfica this season, the supercup where we were robbed like mad, and we still won. First season game, where there was no problems with the referrers, and won 5-0. I repeat, 5-0. The league cup, where Benfica won with all fairness (even if I consider it to be poor game), and this last game, where again we were robbed like mad, and we still won.

    There is no way around it, Porto are this years champions with merit. To deny that is to be blinded by Benficas propaganda.

    @Dan
    Same thing happened last year with Benfica players while on an open bus, for HOURS. And not 10 minutes like it was with Porto while on the stadiums balcony. Please don’t look to one side only.

  19. Bino says:

    Oh and I forgot to say, that you only mentioned Benfica houses getting stoned, but the same thing happened to Porto houses, as did with Portos buses, and, something unique, Benficas fans set a bus on fire once. But people always forget to mention those things.

  20. voces sao todos uma merda, todos falam portugues e veem pa qui com estas merdas, acham que enganam o mundo ao virem paqui contar estas merdas e esquecendo ss de tudo que e’ merda na historia do benfimerda…o porto nao entrou com os miudos do benfica..tenham vergonha seus merdas, sabem bem o q aconteceu e veem em ingles contar historinhas da merda, tipico… acusacoes de corrupcao…esqueceram ss do orelhas vieira??? pois outra vez!!!esquecem ss de tudo e lembram ss de tudo, ao mesmo tempo!!! ridiculos da merda, trafico armas mortes e arbitros discutidos, tudo isto no vosso pseudo-coitadinho, injusticado-clube!!! nao valem o desgaste das teclas onde escrevem… as expulsoes que nem ve las, as cotoveladas do cardozo, coentrao, garia, luizao, david, e ate do jesus!!!

    there you go, last season taste (benfica players, or boxers)

    http://www.metacafe.com/watch/5824290/v_deo_do_s_culo_verdade_desportiva_poca_2009_2010/

    this season, benfica manager taste( fighting opp player)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bp5UhqzLxmc&feature=related

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4xF5eWDoYo

    benfica presidente asking for referees and acused of criminal association

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RKqhCHivxY&feature=related

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZsRZFh4GO0&feature=related

    this season benfica pitbulls not players(first game of the season, yes just in one game!!!)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIbx_0mAHqc

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc3KGCo-CdU&feature=related

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uRm21VYTLs&NR=1

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq8QLsfcdNg&feature=related

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bruRLJomgbE&feature=related

    benfica fans killed a supporter, still using this stuff today in their stadium with the support of the president, other stabbed and other fighting the police,burned porto bus by benfica fans…
    this is their morality…
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J6_TAIFH1A

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhKAMotnvI0&feature=related

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQsTrt6CbJY&feature=related

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=No-2VJOl3lI

    and for last the best, porto 5 benfica 0 (last nov)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrKjurbhJk4

  21. Odrac says:

    By the way….what people say about Porto…..is exactly the same of what hapend in this game. Their fans wanted to kill the police, throwed stones at our bus (lousy throwers)and did the amazing thing at the end. AMAZING. By the way Porto has the best record of Portuguese teams in Europe.

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