Peppa, who was sent off during the match, said he did not respect anyone, and considered V. Guimarães’ defeat at Sporting (1-3) as heavy, in a match of the 27th round.

“I can count on the fingers of one hand the times I’ve been kicked out. What did I overtake? To leave the technical area? I accepted the yellow as a warning. Now, it’s hard for me to get kicked out of the game for protesting a foul, I didn’t hurt anyone! It was an intense match, full of emotions, played.” Well done both teams, and with great support from our fans ”, Pippa justified, at a press conference.

Asked what made the difference, Pepa did not hesitate to point out the details that gave the Lions the edge: “We started very well in the second half, I emphasize the quality of the team, but the decisive moment was entering fate. [Pedro Gonçalves] And Matthews Nunes descended, then went up. After the second goal we tried to equalize with a header and caution, but the third goal, a great goal from Marcus in the net, killed the match. Congratulations to the team and the fans, we did everything to make the result different. Also, congratulations to Sporting on the win.”

Regarding the three expulsions of the technical team, namely Pepa, assistant Samuel Correa and physical coach Pedro Oliveira, the coach confirmed that it was only possible to warn them. “There are yellow cards, it’s a warning, a warning, it could have been managed differently, but it’s the referee’s decisions, and there’s nothing that can be done. The result was a shame, we did everything,” he said.

On Ricardo Quaresma’s absence from the match sheet, Peppa did not elaborate: “Like the others who were left out, Ricardo went with his choice.”