MADRID, 12 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of Sporting de Portugal, Frederico Varandas, denounced having been “subject to verbal attacks and attempted physical attacks” this Friday “by Vítor Baía, vice president of Porto; Sérgio Conceição, team coach, and Rui Cerqueira, director of club press” after the tie (2-2) with the ‘Dragoes’ in a League match.
Sporting assured this Saturday in a statement that “after the president’s statements” and “when he was going to the team bus”, Varandas met Baía, Conceiçao and Cerqueira. The latter rushed “violently” against “the president of Sporting, taking his wallet with his mobile phone, personal identification documents and credit cards out of his hand, and immediately fled.”
“Despite the presence of the police at the scene, the device and the documents were not found (…) Sporting will denounce Vítor Baía, Sérgio Conceição and Rui Cerqueira. And it will do everything possible so that those responsible for these acts are prohibited access to sports venues”.
“These are acts in which they are repeat offenders, since they have a long history of intimidating journalists, spectators and opponents, as is public knowledge. In addition, the Verdiblanco club indicated that it will carry out an investigation into” the attacks against Sporting players by elements outside the field of play, and that are documented in images for everyone to see”.
“What happened yesterday, on and off the pitch, is too serious not to have consequences,” adds Sporting de Portugal, who will not “abandon this fight” to “protect sport and citizens.”