A new scandal rocks Portuguese football, with messages handed over to authorities that were on the mobile phones of referees already heard following Duarte Gomes' complaint. These messages reveal alleged pressures to remove referee Fábio Veríssimo from the Porto-Benfica classic, referring to the quarter-finals of the Taça de Portugal, held in January.
As revealed by journalist Tânia Laranjo, FC Porto wanted Veríssimo's removal from the match appointment due to the existing dispute between the two parties. The referee was at the centre of a huge controversy with the structure led by André Villas-Boas in the Porto-Braga game from the previous season.
According to the report, at halftime of that match, a television that was impossible to turn off was placed in the refereeing team's dressing room, showing plays in which the northern club felt wronged.
Luciano Gonçalves, President of the Arbitration Board, allegedly threatened to report the FPF person who tried to coerce the referees, in a case that continues to generate waves of indignation in Portuguese football.
