Five red cards shown in Benfica-Santa Clara match

In the 9th round of the Portuguese Premier League, the visitors won the match against Santa Clara 2-1. After falling behind to a goal by Luis Fernando in the 32nd minute, Benfica turned the game around in the 68th minute with goals from Vangelis Pavlidis and Gianluca Prestianni.

The real controversy came at the final whistle. A tense exchange between Jhon Duran and Luis Fernando quickly escalated into a melee involving players, coaching staffs and medical personnel from both teams. After order was restored, referee Claudio Pereira showed red cards to Luis Fernando and assistant coach Tiago Pinto of Santa Clara, and to Jhon Duran, assistant coach Goncalo Sousa and sporting director Mario Branco of Benfica. Duran's card drew attention, as he had come on in the 82nd minute.

Benfica head coach Marco Silva said Duran had done nothing wrong, arguing the decision was unjust. Silva called for all footage of the incident to be released and said he trusted his player. Benfica were reported to be applying to the Portuguese Football Federation's Disciplinary Committee to have Duran's suspension lifted.

Santa Clara's Brazilian forward Luis Fernando said he had not noticed he was being shown a red card. He said the referee had come very close to them but he did not recall seeing a card.