At the end of the match Estoril-FC Porto, a controversial match in matchday 27 of the League that the Dragons lost 1-0 and from which they left with three players expelled, Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa was the one appearing before the journalists in the press room of António Coimbra da Mota because Sérgio Conceição "was not in a position nor was it prudent" to attend, given "the anger" that prevails "in the dressing room".

"What happened on this matchday is really the outcome of what has been happening for many years now", the chairman stated, then pointing out the various errors that have systematically harmed the team: "FC Porto, since the game against Boavista, in which a clear penalty that Mr. Manuel Oliveira did not signal and that the VAR didn’t call, with Rio Ave in which the referee gave a penalty, but the VAR, not showing the correct images, disallowed, in Arouca a clear penalty on Galeno that the referee didn’t signal and the VAR remained quiet. Today, a clear penalty, because there is an elbow on Francisco Conceição, was then called by the VAR, and the right thing was made wrong”.

The fact is that "Mr. Tiago Martins, last year, against Gil Vicente, cost us a championship" and yet "he has the reputation of being the best VAR, but he is not. Mr. Tiago Martins, instead of being concerned with doing campaign, as he did at Estádio do Dragão, in favour of Mr. José Fontelas, should be concerned with refereeing, with being correct in the calls to the referees and not with falsifying results as happened today”, the chairman continued.

António Nobre, who was recently criticized in an international controversy after the poor performance in the friendly opposing Spain and Brazil last Tuesday, was also targeted by Pinto da Costa, who believes "he had no conditions to be the referee today". What remains is that "it’s embarrassing to see how much FC Porto is being pushed down, especially by the VAR".

Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa
“Our coach is not here today because, with the anger spreading in the locker room right now, we felt that he was not in a position nor was it prudent for him to be here. What happened in this matchday is really the outcome of what has been happening for many years. The VAR was invented in hopes that it would work. FC Porto, since the game against Boavista, in which a clear penalty that Mr. Manuel Oliveira did not signal and that the VAR didn’t call, with Rio Ave in which the referee gave a penalty, but the VAR, not showing the correct images, disallowed, in Arouca a clear penalty on Galeno that the referee didn’t signal and the VAR remained quiet. Today, a clear penalty, because there is an elbow on Francisco Conceição, was then called by the VAR, and the right thing was made wrong. Mr. Tiago Martins, last year, against Gil Vicente, cost us a championship. Mr. Tiago Martins has the reputation of being the best VAR, but he is not. Mr. Tiago Martins, instead of being concerned with doing campaign, as he did at Estádio do Dragão, in favour of Mr. José Fontelas, should be concerned with refereeing, with being correct in the calls to the referees and not with falsifying results as happened today. If this is not a penalty, then it’s really only a penalty if it’s like that one on Di María, at Estádio da Luz, which was called by the VAR. It should be noted that the VAR does not exist to employ referees that were demoted and retired, who have no quality. An individual has the reputation that he is the best, I don't know why, as he systematically does things like this and misleads the referee.”