Belenenses asks to repeat the game against Benfica

Portuguese football experienced an unusual moment days ago in the match between Os Belenenses and Benfica. Although the local team was defeated by a historic 0-7 against the Eagles, both teams did not play on equal terms. An outbreak of COVID-19 wreaked havoc on Nuno Oliveira’s team, leaving a total of 17 positive cases in Belenenses before the league match. This forced them to play the match against the Lisbon team with 9 players in the initial team, two of them being goalkeepers.. The game was played despite the circumstances, which generated a great stir, with harsh criticism from both teams – both the president of Belenenses and Benfica, Rui Pedro Soares and Rui Costa, affirmed that they were forced to play. . That is why, from the affected team, they have requested a replay of the match.

Through a statement published by the club, which is echoed by various media in Portugal, Belenenses informs that he has met with the Board of Directors of the Primeira Liga, the Portuguese league, to “agree on the date of the new match in accordance with the regulations and calendars of both teams. “The team from the Portuguese capital abides by section 4 of article 45 of the competition regulations, which establishes that” when the game has been decided by the referee as concluded before end their regular time, the result they register will not be approved. “As reported by the Portuguese country, Belenenses now hopes that “the decision is favorable”.

Full release from Belenenses

Having received the Belenenses SAD, this morning, the report of the match referee, it turns out that the referee declared “(…) the game ended due to numerical inferiority of the visiting team, in the course of minute 3 of the 2nd half, (…)”. Article 45.4 of the Regulations for Competitions Organized by the Portuguese League establishes that “when a match has been declared over by the referee before the end of regulation time, the result recorded by the referee will not be validated and a new match will be called by the League. of Portugal, except in the cases expressly provided for in the regulations “. The referee called the game to an end before the end of regulation time. The regulation does not expressly foresee the case that the referee declares that the match has ended before the end of regulation time, that is, it does not specify what should happen in such a case.. Consequently, the Portuguese League must not approve the result of the match and must designate a new match, leaving Belenenses SAD available to agree on the date of the new match in accordance with the regulations and calendars of both teams.