Taynan da Silva was the star of the Portuguese League Cup final, in which Sporting beat Benfica (4-2). On the positive side, he scored two goals, and on the negative side, he jumped onto the court from the bench to stop a rival attack when the score was 3-2, with one minute and forty seconds left in the Lisbon derby. This infraction of the regulations only resulted in a yellow card for the Kazakh-Brazilian winger, given by the twin referees Rubén and Cristiano Santos. Benfica has already requested the Portuguese Federation to repeat the match. Paradoxically, Taynan, the Sporting player, was chosen as the MVP, which was also considered a provocation.
A Sporting attack ended with Merlim lying on the court, and Chiskala made a defensive recovery. The Russian wing played short to Arthur, who quickly extended the ball to the wing, where Jacaré was waiting. Before the incarnate center controlled, Taynan came off the bench with his bib on and cleared the ball, demanding the referee stop the game and attend to his teammate. This astonished the rivals and the public, causing the Portuguese Classic to explode into controversy. Portugal’s best couple reviewed the play in the video arbitration and only admonished Taynan, considering it an unsportsmanlike action and not an obvious scoring opportunity. He could have also received a yellow card for entering with his bib, touching the ball, and even for protesting, leading to a double warning.
The club chaired by Rui Costa issued a statement expressing deep discomfort with the arbitration.
They pointed out that “the rules are clear and imply, at a minimum, his expulsion” and denounced that “it was another wrong and serious decision by the referee team, once again with direct influence on the final result and the delivery of the trophy.” The Benfica team reiterated that “with successive decisions that undermined sporting truth, harmed Benfica and culminated in a very serious precedent for national futsal.” They announced that “given the seriousness of the events experienced in the Municipal Pavilion of Póvoa de Varzim, we will do everything possible to ensure that unacceptable unsportsmanlike conduct does not go unnoticed again, and that the level of refereeing we have witnessed is not repeated.”
Taynan made a post on his Instagram profile in which he stated, “I love this club. Did I make a mistake?
Yes. But it was on impulse because I wanted to win, to give the title to my team, for all our work. But the regulations speak for themselves. Can we change the rules? I agree. But that’s all. I want to apologize to some, but I played by the rules and I love this sport,” wrote the Sporting player, who subsequently made the post disappear. The Kazakh international, of Brazilian origin, has already been involved in other controversial events. In his first season in Spain with ElPozo Murcia, he was suspended for 15 games after headbutting a referee in the controversial final of the Spanish Cup in Jaén 2022.
The Benfica coach, Mario Silva, was very harsh in his appearance before the media after the final. “It was a shame. We are talking about a play, in the best derby in the world, that is being seen all over the world and in the last minutes when we are losing by one and looking to score, and someone who shouldn’t even belong to futsal, because whoever is capable of doing this should not belong to this sport. It is no coincidence that he has already been suspended for 15 games.
This is unacceptable. First of all, the attitude of the athlete, who is not an athlete but a vandal. Secondly, by the decision of the referee team. “We are allowing these types of situations to repeat themselves.”
“Portuguese futsal is very serious and has won everything the right way, like Sporting has often won the right way, but not today… I’m sorry, we can’t let this stay like this and must be punished. What I have witnessed today is cheating. The message we send to future coaches and the world of futsal is that anything goes to win. In sport, one of the possible results is defeat, and you have to know how to accept it and live with it. This defeat must be analyzed because otherwise, what will happen is that the coaches will start taking players to the bench to stop the counterattacks,” he concluded.
For his part, when Sporting coach Nuno Dias was also questioned by journalists about Taynan’s controversial action, he publicly asked: “Did Sporting win because of that play? Because that play wouldn’t even lead to a 4 on 3 situation, no matter how much they wanted to judge that on that play Taynan could eventually be sent off. Taynan was a player on the bench, we were going to continue playing 4 against 4. We won 4-2, did Benfica lose because of that play? Did Sporting win because of that play? No. They are devaluing Sporting’s victory, and that is ugly. It was just a play. That didn’t influence the final result,” he reiterated.
Finally, Luciano Gonçalves, president of the Portuguese Football Referees Association, endorsed the work of the referee team in statements to the newspaper A Bola.
Led by Rúben Santos and assisted by his twin brother Cristiano Santos (AF Porto), he said, “The referee did the job he had to do. On the referee side, everything is calm; the referee complied with the regulations. The rest has to do with behavior, action, and ethics. As for issues of conduct, it is an issue that I don’t know who is responsible for analyzing; it is not ours,” said the head of APAF.
We will have to see how this arbitration controversy with Taynan ends, taking into account that on February 17, Benfica and Sporting will meet again in the League Placard in a decisive match for the regular phase. With Braga in the first position, the two Portuguese giants would have to face each other in a hypothetical semifinal. The two Portuguese teams could also meet again in the Portuguese Cup, and likewise, in the UEFA Futsal Champions League Final Four, whose draw has not yet been played.
One of the unsportsmanlike actions that will remain in memory. Intercontinental Cup 2006: Inter against Falcao’s Malwee, the Green Machine is winning 1-0 (Net); With 55 to go, Malwee’s substitute goalkeeper, Bagé, jumps onto the court and prevents Daniel’s goal.
IN THE INTERCONTINENTAL OF 2006
BAGÉ’S PRECEDENT AT MALWEE-INTER
Taynan’s controversy in the Portuguese classic recalled another controversial action that went around the world almost 17 years ago. On April 9, 2006, Malwee and Movistar Inter faced each other in the Intercontinental Cup at the Arena Multiusos Gymnasium in Brusque (Santa Catarina). The Madrid team won 0-1, and with 55 seconds left in the match, Daniel Ibañes recovered a ball in the defense of the 5 for 4 with Falcao as goalkeeper and shot at the unguarded Brazilian goal.
However, his substitute goalkeeper, Bagé, came off the bench to prevent the second Spanish goal and was sent off by the Paraguayan referee Óscar Ortiz, although the regulations stipulated that it was only a yellow card. Months later, FIFA amended the rule to add a red card in the event of a clear scoring chance. The Brazilian Futsal Confederation sanctioned Bagé for two years for that unsportsmanlike action, who declared that he had followed his coach’s instructions, Fernando Ferretti.