Benfica asks FPF Council to remove Durán’s sporting penalty

At Estádio São Miguel in the Azores, after the final whistle on 26 October, players and staff from Santa Clara and Benfica were involved in a confrontation. Benfica had won 2-1, yet the match ended with five post-match red cards, including one for Jhon Durán. His next appearance is now in question. The dismissal has carried the closing moments of the game into a dispute over the referee’s account, with Benfica challenging what happened and the disciplinary authorities facing the decision on his availability.

Benfica says the referee’s report contradicts itself and the images, and has asked the FPF Disciplinary Council to remove the sporting penalty attached to Durán’s red card. It also wants the case and the referee’s conduct investigated, with sanctions if responsibility is established. The immediate question is whether the automatic suspension will keep the forward out of Thursday’s Taça da Liga quarter-final against Gil Vicente; the wider one is whether scrutiny of the report can lead to consequences for the official.

Benfica’s objection centres on the link between Durán’s alleged response and the confrontation that followed. The club says the available images show neither aggression nor a provocative gesture by the forward. It says that the account therefore lacks visible evidence of the behaviour it attributes to him, rather than merely disputing the decision to send him off.

The club also challenges the effect assigned to words the officials said they could not understand. Benfica says the report cannot both describe the words as imperceptible to the refereeing team and conclude that they helped spread the wider disturbance. Its complaint is about that connection: whether the report explains how Durán’s response contributed to what happened around him.

Marco Silva has backed the demand for the full footage to be examined, while acknowledging that he had not seen all of it himself. Speaking to Observador, the Benfica coach said:

“You have the images and I hope you show them all. Then we can see what Durán did.”

Benfica has put two separate requests to the FPF Disciplinary Council. One concerns the consequences for Jhon Durán; the other asks the authorities to investigate the case and the referee’s conduct. The first could determine whether Durán’s dismissal remains on his disciplinary record. The second asks the Council to examine how the account was produced and whether the referee acted properly.

The club’s statement went further, invoking the earlier case involving referee Gustavo Correia and accusing the account in Durán’s case of being contradicted by reality. Benfica’s demand is not simply for the report to be reviewed: it wants any responsibility established through an investigation to carry a sanction.

In its statement, Benfica set out the strength of its position:

“We are looking at another episode of extraordinary refereeing creativity, which requires a rigorous investigation. After the Gustavo Correia case in Famalicão, in which it was shown that the report did not correspond to the facts – and that the referee had lied deliberately – Benfica will not accept a new account manifestly contradicted by reality being treated with complacency. This new falsehood must be investigated and sanctioned with the seriousness it deserves.”

Those are Benfica’s allegations and requested remedies, not findings by the Council.

Durán’s automatic suspension would rule him out of Benfica’s Taça da Liga quarter-final against Gil Vicente on 29 October unless the Council lifts it. Marco Silva included him in the squad while awaiting the disciplinary body’s decision.

The uncertainty has left Benfica preparing for a match without knowing whether its forward will be available. Silva told A Bola:

“At the moment, we do not know whether he can be used. I understand the question; it has to do with the timing of the meeting of those who will take the decision.”

A Bola reported that opening an inquiry could pause the suspension, allowing Durán to play while the investigation continued. A later disciplinary decision could still impose a punishment. Record reported that the Disciplinary Council was due to meet on 29 October, with a decision potentially reaching Durán about an hour before kick-off. The timing matters as much as the ruling for Benfica’s immediate plans: a late decision could leave little time to adjust its preparation.

The official account gives the Council a different basis to weigh. Referee Cláudio Pereira’s report says Santa Clara forward Fernando provoked Durán, who replied with words the officiating team could not make out. It adds that those words helped spread the wider confrontation.

“He directed words at him that were imperceptible to the officiating team, which helped spread the wider conflict.”

The report lists “offensive, insulting or coarse language or gestures” as the stated basis for Durán’s red card. Its account, then, links an alleged verbal response to the disturbance, while not claiming the officials understood the words themselves.

Fernando, who was also sent off, offered a calmer description when asked about the aftermath. He characterised it as part of football and said there was no lingering tension.

“These things happen in a game; it happened, but everything is calm.”

The Famalicão case offers a comparison in how the Council examined a referee’s account. On 7 July, the FPF Disciplinary Council found that Mário Branco had neither approached the officials nor been prevented from doing so. It also reprimanded referee Gustavo Correia over the way he had clarified what happened.

“He did not act with the degree of rigour, accuracy and diligence required of him.”

The ruling addressed Branco’s alleged approach and restraint.

Benfica has also asked the Refereeing Council not to respond to what it calls repeated serious errors by giving the officials involved further Primeira Liga appointments. The club cited Correia’s case in making that broader demand, extending its complaint beyond the disciplinary decision on Durán to the consequences for referees’ appointments.

The confrontation at Estádio São Miguel has moved from the touchline into the Disciplinary Council’s hands. For Benfica, the next sign will be whether the body separates the immediate question of Durán’s availability from its decision on whether to investigate the report.

After Gil Vicente, Benfica’s calendar offers little pause: Alverca follows, then Lech Poznan in the Europa League. The ruling on Durán will shape the first of those tests, while the investigation request could keep the report under scrutiny after the match is over.

• The Disciplinary Council’s decision on Durán’s eligibility and whether it will open an inquiry, expected before or on 29 October.