Jaime Cancella de Abreu once again pointed the finger at the unequal treatment that, according to him, exists in the media analysis of Portuguese football. The focus is the comparison between what was said about Bruno Lage, when Benfica went to Munich, and the speech adopted after Sporting went to the same stadium.
**1. Tactical strategy **Like Bruno Lage, Rui Borges put together a defensive plan against Bayern. «Would there be another way for a Portuguese team to play in Bavaria?», he asks.
**2. Squad management **Both spared players thinking about the championship. Lage beat FC Porto 4-1 three days later. Now, it remains to be seen whether all Sporting players who were left out “due to injury” return at the weekend.
**3. Champions Rules **Bruno Lage and Rui Borges played with the competition’s tiebreaker criteria: losing by a few to maintain an advantage in the direct confrontation. Lage scored 13 points and qualified without a doubt; Rui Borges left with a positive balance of four goals.
**4. The result **Bruno Lage lost 1-0. Rui Borges 2-0.
**5. Media treatment **Benfica’s defeat was violently criticized. Sporting’s was treated as a moral victory.
**6. The appeal **If we ask for equal criteria from referees, we must also ask for equal criteria from the media. Similar situations deserve similar assessments.
Social communication like referees: criteria vary depending on the colors of the equipment
