Lopetegui blows his top as Benfica get to within touching distance of title

Lopetegui blows his top as Benfica get to within touching distance of title

Given the anti-climatic and disappointingly predictable end to the Primeira Liga title race currently being played out, FC Porto coach Julen Lopetegui did a fine job at livening up the end-of-season panorama in Portugal with a remarkable outburst in the post-match press conference following Porto's 2-0 victory over Gil Vicente tonight. 

The Spaniard said he had lost all respect for Benfica coach Jorge Jesus, accused his counterpart of benefiting from a "protective blanket" and also vented his fury at what he perceives as unfair treatment by Portuguese journalists in relation to Porto. 

 

First things first. The matches involving the top two this weekend resulted in easy wins for both teams. Benfica trounced Penafiel 4-0 yesterday thanks to a brace from Lima and further goals from Jonas and Pizzi. "Our two forwards were our two best players," said Jorge Jesus afterwards, and with Jonas now having notched 18 Liga goals and Lima 17 one cannot play down the importance of the strike duo, who complement each other so well, in Benfica's dominant domestic season.

Jackson unstoppable

The irrepressible Jackson Martínez, however, showed once again he is a striker from the very top drawer, netting both Porto's goals to reclaim top spot in the goalscoring charts (20 goals), his second strike from a particularly eye-catching overhead kick. The Colombian is set to leave this summer and he will be difficult to replace at the Estádio do Dragão.

The ease with which Benfica and Porto won their matches (albeit against the bottom two teams) despite neither playing particularly well adds weight to the argument that the overall quality of the Liga has dropped substantially this season. 

And unlike many recent championships in Portugal when the final outcome was in the balance as the title race reached its crescendo leading to an exciting final furlong of the campaign, this season's Primeira Liga all but lost interest with four games remaining. 

Porto's failure to beat Benfica at the Estádio da Luz, and their strangely unadventurous approach, left the Eagles with a comfortable 3-point buffer plus head-to-head advantage, and the current Portuguese champions have had little trouble in maintaining the gap with thrashings of Gil Vicente and Penafiel in their two subsequent games, meaning Porto need to make up four points in the last two matches of the season.

It is possible Benfica may drop points in their trip to Vitória Guimarães next Sunday. It is improbable they will do so at home to Marítimo one week later. And it is nigh on impossible Jorge Jesus's men - who have won 32 of 39 matches in domestic play this season - will fail to win either game. 

This was the unhappy backdrop for Porto as Lopetegui took his seat in the Estádio do Dragão press room tonight, supposedly to field questions about a straightforward victory. It soon turned into something very different. 

Shots fired

"Benfica's coach talks a lot. When I arrived here I had a lot of respect for all my colleagues. For him as well. I lost my respect for him when he wrongly reported to a newspaper what I had said to him [after the Benfica-Porto game]. For someone of his experience I felt this was a lack of class. He talks about everyone, even saying how other teams should play. 

"It's easy to talk when you're under a protective blanket like he is. The reality hits home when he doesn't have it. He has a fantastic team, fantastic players, really good, but when he wasn't under this protective blanket he didn't qualify from the Champions League group phase. We lost against them and drew at their place, but I believe we were superior in both games. The entire world's a more beautiful place when you have a protective blanket," said the angry Porto manager. 

Jorge Jesus's response will certainly be worth listening to...

Before launching into the impressive rant transcribed above, Lopetegui had already vented his fury at what he said was a fabricated story in last week's press that claimed he had had a bust-up with former first-choice goalkeeper Fabiano. 

"There's a difference between opinion and information. Opinion is legitimate, sometimes manipulative, but it's an opinion. Information, if it is incorrect, is invention. Just invention. Fabiano is a spectacular professional. Somebody who is able to invent a story like this discredits the journalism profession. Every day there's a new drama about FC Porto, but we'll keep ploughing ahead." 

With the discussion about whether or not Lopetegui should be kept on next season likely to have strong opinions on both sides, the Spaniard's fierce (and repeated) attacks against local journalists is an admirable show of courage. For Benfiquistas the whole show is Schadenfreude at its best. For disinterested onlookers it is highly entertaining. For Lopetegui it could be costly. 

by Tom Kundert