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Ubuesque scene, Saturday night, at the Portuguese soccer tournament. With fourteen players absent due to Covid-19, the Belenenses club had to put together a squad of just nine to host one of the Portuguese league’s greats, Benfica, at the Estadio Nacional in Lisbon.

In addition to many positive players, the coach and several members of the coaching staff were also lost. The club from the Lisbon region of Belém had to start several young players from the reserve, as well as a goalkeeper whose position was changed as a field player.

He scored a goal against his camp from the first minute, the numerically humble Lisbon team of 11 players suffered from “the Eagles”, who were already 7-0 ahead in the first half.

Only seven Belenenses players returned to the field after the break and one remained on the ground after the start of the second half. Referring to his injury, the referee was forced to call the early end of the match in the 48th minute of play, as the laws of football stipulate that the match cannot continue. If either team has less than seven players.

“The gang is a disgrace”The crowd in the stadium sang. ” It was such a shame to play here tonight,” Rui Pedro Soares, President of Belenenses, said after praising the dignity of Players forced to play.

After contacting the Football League“Because we didn’t want to play this meeting, we were told we had eight players capable of playing.” and that the fact“Failure to appear can be considered an unjustified absence”The club president explained. “It’s a black page for Portuguese football,” he said. said Rui Costa, President of Benfica.