Luisao — like any center back — is used to opposition attackers flopping in order to win a cheap free kick or penalty. However, the Benfica defender was caught in an tough position when the offending actor was referee Christian Fischer.
Benfica’s dull preseason friendly against Fortuna Dusseldorf got a shot in the arm in the 39th minute when midfield enforcer Javi Garcia made a strong tackle.
As his teammates were arguing with Fischer, Eagles’ captain Luisao burst through the pack and delivered a slight chest bump to the German official. In what Benfica called a “lamentable display of theater,” Fischer hit the deck, kicked his feet up in the air, and feigned a momentary loss of consciousness.
Luisao was left less than impressed by Fischer’s performance, according to the Mail.
“I was surprised,” the veteran stopper reportedly told Record.
“I did not make any move of aggression. I tried to be ahead of my colleagues and I saw the referee fall. I tried to talk to the assistants still on the pitch to explain my intention.
“I do not fear anything. I have a clear conscience and I will continue with my work.”
Meanwhile, the German club quickly condemned Benfica in a statement almost as dramatic as the flop that preceded it.
“I’m shocked. I’ve been in football for many years and have never seen anything like it. I do not understand that players from a team with the reputation of Benfica, a team that play in the Champions League, have such an attitude,” Fortuna president Peter Frymuth told A Bola.
“Let’s get help from the German federation and talk with UEFA about Luisao, and about what other players of Benfica did. I hope they are severely punished.
“We should have been celebrating for ourselves, but we are now faced with a depressing action. We are speechless, we are dead with grief.”
Fortuna’s hyperbolic support for its thespian compatriot smells suspiciously like an attempt to curry favor from Fischer and his colleagues in its upcoming Bundesliga campaign. Of course, that’s assuming Fischer hasn’t already been cast as Christoph Waltz‘s stunt double in the next Quentin Tarantino movie.
Watch Luisao knock Fischer out in the video below.
Photo via Facebook/Sou Benfica de alma & coracao
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