From Benfica's grievances to the salary of $13,000€. Luciano Gonçalves says everything

Luciano Gonçalves gave, this Thursday, an extensive interview to RTP Notícias, in which he put everything in 'clean dishes', starting immediately with the indignation expressed by Benfica in the face of the explanations given by Cláudio Pereira for the expulsion of Jhon Durán (which would be decanalized), after the final whistle of the victory over Santa Clara, in the Stadium of São Miguel, by 1-2.

“What the referee effectively understood to do was condemn an attitude, according to the arbitration team. Being away, he could not have the perception of the words that were said by the player, but it was realized, in the opinion of the arbitration team, that the action of the player provoked all that anger of the opposing players, that is why that confusion was generated ", started by affirming.

“The Council of Discipline will have the opportunity to call the referee again, question him and ask for explanations (...). I understand, especially from the way it was written, from the justification given. From my point of view, you could have explained it better. It would have the same end, because the action could have been a yellow for one of the players, the Benfica player would have been expelled anyway because it already had yellow. As he is distant, he wanted to condemn the attitude, provoked all that anger, but the way he wrote was certainly not the clearest way to realize it”, he added.

“I have no problem leaving. If I leave, I have a job, I don’t depend on it to live”

In this interview, the president of the Arbitration Council of the Portuguese Football Federation (PFF) also ensured that, despite the challenge, he has no intention of resigning: “Football has weird things, the way football is treated outside the four lines is something that hardly values football itself and I recognize that this issue is doing harm to arbitration, but I also recognize that I have done nothing to do this.”.

“ I don't hold office for two reasons, it's not because I'm attached to the place, who comes from the base, who worked the way I did... I have no problem leaving. If I leave, I have a job, I don't depend on this for a living. I have lived with much less, effectively today I recognize that I earn far above the national average, about 13,000 gross euros, but I have not negotiated values. This is what is paid”, continued.

“ I do not suspend functions either because the statutes of the FPF do not allow suspension, except for illness and if I never lied, I would not lie about the disease either. Then I was elected a year and a half ago by 70% of the ballot book, and the third reason I did nothing to be in this position. If I am accused, I will remain, unless there is an accusation or it is proved, otherwise it would be simple and a very serious precedent ", completed.

“ If you ask me if I would like to have publicly Pedro Proença come to defend me or speak to me, naturally I would like to.”

In conclusion, Luciano Gonçalves thanked Pedro Proença for his solidarity with you... even if he liked that the maximum leader of FPF was more active: “Of 79 measures planned, 30 completed, 30 in progress and the others missing, it was with me and this Arbitration Council that we went from nine referees with professionalism project to 21, four assistant referees in professionalism, record of international referees and new 1200 referees.”.

“On Pedro Proença, on a personal level the president has always been at my side, if you ask me if you would like to have publicly come to defend me or give me a word, naturally I liked it”, he concluded.