In the 30th round of the Portuguese Football League, Porto managed to defeat Portimonense 7-0 a result that solidified the leadership of Porto at the top of the table. In that match, Mehdi Taremi, Team Melli and Porto striker, and Payam Niazmand, the Iranian goalkeeper of Portimonense, faced each other for the first time as bother were in the starting lineups. Taremi scored a hat trick in that match and provided one assist to endure terrible suffering on his Team Melli teammate Niazmand. It was indeed quite a bitter experience for Niazmand in one of the few times that he was picked up as a starter for his team.
The events of that match, however, raised quite a few questions and concerns with some allegations of complicity, betting, and bribery being mentioned. The large victory margin and the social media activities on the match prompted the disciplinary committee of the Portuguese Football Federation to act and begin its own investigation into this result, which is questioned even by the media. All the attention on the result of that defeat is being focused on Paulo Sérgio, the head coach of Portimonense, who did not play many of his fixed players against Porto, and even his substitutions were suspect as he sent players with little experience on to the field some who had only played a handful of games for the club.
Sergio, of course, reacted sharply to the decision to investigate the result of the game with Porto. “What they are doing is insulting me,” he said yesterday. “I have already said everything I should have said about this.” He added: “You can see that our substitution bench (due to the absence of a large number of players) was not even full. With two goalkeepers, there was still room for others on the bench. Just look at the players I had on the bench to see what I had for that match.”
The head coach of Payam Niazmand emphasized: “I have children, I have parents, I have a family and it is a shame for me to see that my name is associated with such trepidations.
Paulo Sérgio Bento Brito coached in Iran and was the head coach of Sanat Naft Abadan between July 2018 and May 2019 when he left for the Saudi club Al Taáwon before returning to Portugal to coach Portimonense in February 2020.
Meanwhile, Portimonense SAD club considers that the investigation process opened by the Disciplinary Board, on suspicion of fielding a weakened team in the game against FC Porto, at Estádio do Dragão, “a fierce, merciless and unfounded attack on the club and recalls that, even this season, Belenenses SAD was allowed to face Benfica with a team of nine players only.”
In a long statement, the SAD of the Algarve club was surprised to have known about the investigation through the media and recalls that the club has “scrupulously” complied with its financial obligations.
Portimonense still considers it “absurdity” to open an investigation for the reasons presented in a season in which a team was already allowed to enter the field with nine players, in allusion to Belenenses vs. Benfica.