Sporting president Frederico Varandas has given an extraordinary speech on the current hysteria surrounding refereeing in Portugal.

All of the big three have been pointing fingers at each other over officiating and Benfica and Porto had a field day recently when a VAR call in a Sporting vs Santa Clara match lasted 12 minutes before awarding them a penalty on Morten Hjulmand that secured extra time and a win.

Varandas has now admitted ‘there was no penalty’ but ‘it was completely incomprehensible how they spent 12 minutes trying to find an offside’ before he turned on his rivals in a furious tirade.

“For decades, refereeing wasn’t independent; it had an owner. FC Porto and Benfica. Decades,” he said.

“With names. Pinto da Costa, Luís Filipe Vieira. I’m 46 years old, you’re from my generation, and we grew up like that.

“We grew up where the normal mistake, whether by the coach, the player, the president, or the referee, was completely disproportionately treated. Since Fontelas Gomes and Luciano Gonçalves, refereeing hasn’t had an owner. I guarantee it.

“When I say free and independent, it doesn’t mean refereeing without errors. It has errors. What I can’t accept being told that the refereeing is worse, that it’s awful this year, that it used to be very good.

“Worse in what way? Refereeing today has no owner. It doesn’t. And what happens? If refereeing is like this, in a marathon of 34 matchdays, it’s normal that human errors are proportional among various clubs.

“People aren’t prepared, including part of the media, to see errors in favour of Sporting. What is this? Errors in favour of Sporting.

“Come on, Santa Clara. Penalty awarded by João Pinheiro. My opinion: it’s not a penalty. But let’s tell the truth about the incident.

“I see former referees, commentators, referees who know the truth. Did they spend 14 minutes trying to find a foul? That’s a lie. The VAR, in my opinion, is bad… Is there a touch on the face? Yes.

“The VAR refers to João Pinheiro saying there’s a penalty. And then, inexplicably, they spent 13 or 14 minutes checking for offside. Okay? That’s it.

“The Sporting president believes there was no penalty and it was completely incomprehensible how they spent 12 minutes trying to find an offside. What happened? National scandal. That’s all anyone was talking about.”

On the current refereeing hysteria that’s seen clubs issuing statements on each others’ calls, Varandas called for an end.

“The situation is unbearable, especially for the referees,” he continued.

“And the truth is, and here again I have to say that there is a lack of courage on the part of the media, Sporting loses titles and doesn’t complain about the refereeing. Sporting finishes in 4th place and doesn’t complain about the refereeing.

“And when you want to criticize, ‘ah, the big three and this narrative’. Sporting doesn’t excuse itself with refereeing. I’ve already lost League Cups, Portuguese Cups, [finished in] 4th places.

“We’ve reached the ridiculous point where this year two referees were appointed and there are statements criticizing the referee choices.”

He then gave a solution, heavy fines for more complaints.

Varandas said: “There’s only one way: it won’t be easy to pass this in the General Assembly of Clubs. I’ve already called the president of the League.

“The regulations have to be changed and it has to be like this: the president of Sporting talks about refereeing, [fine of] 100,000 euros. The president of FC Porto talks about refereeing, 100,000 euros. Benfica makes a tweet, 100 or 200 thousand. It’s the only way we can breathe.

“And we’ll see what happens from here on out. This collective hysteria, this thing, all this stuff going on inside, in the Sporting locker room, is like fuel [for us]. Super fuel for [us to win] the three-peat.”