1.15 The Rise and Fall of Bruno Carvalho - The Court Cases: The players testimony

To recap in our last post we heard the testimony of a great number of players, what they experienced, how they felt what they witnessed at the time. I think we can all agree that it read like a harrowing ordeal to have gone through with the smoke from flares filling the dressing room, the alarms going off players and staff being attacked and being told by some how they would kill them. Maybe if it wasn't following the last league game of the season they could have chosen other options such as boycotting a game to show their displeasure at the perceived lack of effort. I don't suppose many would have wanted to have missed the Taça de Portugal final that being said. Even then they could have waved their white hankies (don't ask me, I still don't get it) or simply sung you're not fit to wear the shirt. What did stand out was that several players reported that the attacks ended with some of those present saying things along the lines of it wasn't supposed to happen like this. The mob mentality when violence suddenly ensues as virtually everyone gets picked up and swept along in its invisible current and only ceases when one person comes to their senses and the realisation of their actions start to spread. For this wasn't a street brawl against rival fans. This was a physical attack and verbal afront that would leave long lasting psychological damage on the players who remember are only five days out from the Taça de Portugal final. I've said it before, I'll state it again here and probably many more times before this series finishes - why was the game allowed to go ahead with the players not in a fit state to play, some physically as well as mentally scarred? I suspect the sad answer can be found in the lyrics of Wu Tang Clan's C.R.E.A.M. - Cash rules everything around me. 

In various testimonies provided to the court during the sessions heard previously it has been confirmed that there were four main targets of the attackers. Principally the two team captains Rui Patrício and William Carvalho and the Argentinian pairing or Marcus Acuña and Rodrigo Battaglia. Namely because the first pairing were the team captains, but the second pairing because of the pairs alleged insults to ultras at the Funchal airport including Fernando Mendes and Thiago Silva two of the leaders of Juve Leo. Therefore I thought it would be worth noting their testimony in isolation as four points of view as to what led to both the attacks happening and during. Owing to the length of the testimony of Rui Patrício that will be added to a separate post to follow but for now we'll concentrate on the other three involved starting with…

William Carvalho

The former Sporting player now plying his trade in Spain with Real Betis, having never signed for West Ham (see post 6 if you're joining us midway through the series and don't get that I'll joke) gave his testimony via Skype. 

William it should be noted had been with the club through the ages of 13 to 26 and when you maybe stop to consider why he chose to rescind his contract, give weight to the notion that this would have been like a second home to him. A great number of players had already admitted to being scared to return their in case there was another attack at any point in the future. 

He starts his testimony not with the attacks but instead with a startling claim about the former club president Bruno de Carvalho:

"Mustafa called me to say that President Bruno de Carvalho had asked him to threaten the players and smash their cars." According to William the phone call from took place "one or two months before" the meeting that followed between the players and de Carvalho after the defeat away to Atlético de Madrid in April which resulted in the social media spat that ensued where the presidents second reaction was to suspend 19 first team players with immediate effect. William stated it was during this meeting that de Carvalho told him that he should have left a long time ago, to which he allegedly replied: "You should be ashamed to say that."

Note - In that April meeting it is noted in one of the other posts that de Carvalho phoned Mendes in front of the players to ask if he had requested that attack and it was denied by him. However I'm sure many of you will be reading that and the first thought that came to mind - well he would say that either way. Which I would say is very true because either it's not true, in which case ask yourself why would William firstly in that meeting, but more importantly swear on oath that his testimony should be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help him God, that this is what he was told? I'm assuming they have to swear that about their testimony before giving it but it could just be an English legal requirement. 

William confirms he was one of those specifically targeted by "around 40 fans" who entered the academy, along with teammates Patrício, Acuña and Battaglia.

"They came in, started shouting, and I heard them asking where William, Patrício, Acuña, and Battaglia were. Three or four individuals said I didn't deserve to wear that jersey and punched me in the chest and back.”

Note - good use of talking about yourself in the third person there. The rest makes pretty grim reading. 

William confirms that he knew four of the defendants in the case. Presumably that's still in relation to the attacks. The first an encounter in the corridor next to the dressing room, despite the attacker having their face covered: “I recognised Valter Semedo when he left the locker room and was trying to run to the bathroom. That's when I saw him. I asked Valter Semedo what was going on and he replied: 'William, we'll talk later'."

William said how he "saw red marks on Jorge Jesus's face and Bas Dost with a cut head," and admitted to panicking during the invasion.

"I was very scared, when they grabbed me I was in a helpless situation, I didn't know what to do, I was in a panic.”

Note - As I write it's the Monday after the Prague Dérbi which was abandoned when the home fans charged onto the pitch and attempted to throw flares into the stand in the far corner where the rival ultras were. Yes there were many more people than 40 fans involved but they had an entire pitch to run onto. So condense that scene down if you will into a small dressing room where unlike in a stadium it's an enclosed space and there's nowhere for the smoke to escape to. The modern safer flares used in Scandinavian football matches still burn at 180-200°C which is roughly twice the heat of boiling water. I think I found the entire affair even more graphic having spent the best part of the last month ensconced in researching the trial and having found out about the heat of flares which incidentally can go up onto four figure numbers in terms of temperatures when set off I was seriously panicked. The first angle is from a side stand and pans as the mass invades from the far right to in front of them and the away fans are no more than fifty yards to the person filmings left. Because of the volume of smoke and the bright light red flashes the first assumption is they're hitting fans. It's only when you see from the view to their fans left behind the goal that you can see the giant net in front of them which thankfully the flares are bouncing off of but ironically you have to think some of them would have rebounded onto their own fans either side. Anyways this isn't a Slavia Prague blog but look it up if you've not seen it. It'll definitely add context to what you're reading here if not totally comparable incidents. 

Marcus Acuña

Marcus Acuña one of the four main targets of the group provides his testimony from a video conference link from Montijo.

Acuña recalled that on the day of the invasion he was in the locker room, specifically in front of the door, when he heard them saying that the fans were already approaching. "When I tried to see out the window, they were already inside." He details that all players were present except Bas Dost, and in addition there were also some physiotherapists present. In total there would be 25 people in that space.

"About 30 or 40 people entered. When they arrived they tried to close the door, but they couldn't. The first ones who entered had their faces all covered. When William tried to close the door, they forced the door and came in calling for me and Battaglia. They came to us and started attacking us, we were a little distant from each other.”

Acuña notes there were four or five fans who were attacking him. "First I was slapped and then punches and kicks followed." While they beat him, they told him that he didn't deserve the Sporting jersey and tried to tear it off. As they could not, they threatened him "That they were going to kill me, that they knew where I lived and where my children went to school.

Acuña recalled that the people who attacked him were not the same ones who attacked Battaglia. Acuña notes that at the time of the attacks that he was trying to protect his face and therefore does not know the total number of aggressors. Acuña does however remember that some of the suspects staying at the door so that no one would leave the place.

"I don't remember many more threats they made except that if we didn't win on Sunday we would see what was going to happen to us.”

The prosecutor wanted to know if some of these invaders told the most aggressive ones to stop, as had already been told to the court by at least one witness, but Acuña assured that he heard nothing to that regard. "There was no one telling them to stop in the locker room, I just remember the security officials doing that." The Argentine player noted that it seemed to him that William personally recognised one or two suspects in the group.

Adding further context Acuña said: "We all left at the same time. There were one or two saying let's go, but I don't remember any more details." Everyone left as they could not stand the smoke that had thickened in the locker room which had led to the fire alarm going off. "I couldn't breathe. I remember that Dost had a wound in his head and the physical trainer (Mário Monteiro) had a burn in the belly area because of a flare."

Speaking of the incidents the incidents that proceeded the end of the game against Marítimo and what occurred at the airport before their departure. There were insults when they went to "greet the fans" however the Argentine guarantees that at that time he asked for support from the fans, but continued to only receive insults. "I reacted because it's my nature, my way of being. I didn't insult the fans, I just asked for support and help.” The player states that at the airport, there was someone who went after him, and that a security guard took him to the plane and remedied the situation. On boarding the plane he still heard calls in the distance for him, but only later did he learn from colleagues the episode that happened next, with Fernando Mendes ending up talking directly with William, Battaglia and, later, with Jorge Jesus.

The player assured Lawyer Sandra Martins, who represents nine of the defendants, the witness assured that he did not call anyone "hijo de puta", a statement that de Carvalho's lawyer had already mentioned in the courtroom to ask the head of security Ricardo Gonçalves, if he had heard him. "I never called anyone a whore, at the airport I went to the plane.” Martins followed up: "And at the end of the game to the bus?"

"No, not at all. I went to the bus where we had food, I never addressed the fans, replied Acuña.

At the meeting held in April where Acuña was told by de Carvalho that the fans had persistently asked for his home address he stated that: "I told him that I wanted to talk to the fans to clarify everything that had happened." But, as he later told by the lawyer Miguel Coutinho, the former president said he would talk to them.

Acuña says after the attacks that physically he had felt pain, but that it went away quickly. The problem was the state of "shock" in which he found himself. He revealed that when the fans left the academy, he called his wife and told her to stay home with their children and "turn on the alarm". "I felt more afraid for my wife and children, looking sideways and back to see if anyone was coming. In every game we don't win, I think it can happen again".

Lawyer Miguel Matias asked the player if it was because of this, out of "fear, that he terminated his contract with Sporting?” Acuña stated that he still feels afraid today, but points out that he has not rescinded. Acuña was one of the nine players who did not end the contractual relationship with SAD.

The Lawyer Sandra Martins asked Acuña if he had any idea who Gonçalo Álvaro was, the alleged author of the video filmed inside the academy, which shows the moments after the attack and which ended up in the media. He admitted to not knowing.

Rodrigo Battaglia

Rodrigo Battaglia, one of the four players identified as the main targets of the attacks was heard at the 14th session. The Argentine admits: "I was scared. Since then, whenever we lose a game, I'm afraid that this will happen again. This happened in our workplace. After the attack, I called my girlfriend not to leave the house. If in our workplace they could do this to us, what would it be on the street?"

"When we came back from work at the gym we saw strange noises and noises. It seemed that they wanted to force the door to enter. I saw my companions looking out the window, I went to the kit room and saw them trying to close the door. Ricardo [Gonçalves] and Vasco [Fernandes] tried to restrain them, but they forced the doors and managed to get in."

He estimated the number of those fans who entered the locker room totalled "between 30 and 40 people with their faces covered" arriving in small groups of two to three people. They shouted his name and in addition those of Patrício, Carvalho and Acuña.

"At no time did they try to talk to us, they called us sons of bitches, that we didn't deserve to wear the shirt. Then the beating began. I saw that they beat William, Marcos Acuña, Patrício, who was also assaulted." Battaglia confirms the actions he was subjected to, as well as those of Patrício, William and Acuña. "Four to five individuals came to me. They punched me in the face, chest and arms. They threatened me with death and threw a 20 to 25 litre bottle of water at me." As for his fellow compatriot Acuña, he states that he "sat and tried to protect himself", however he was hit in the face with punches and kicks to the legs by "a group of five to six people".

The Argentine confirms both Patrício and William "tried to stop it", but were also attacked with blows to the back of the head and body, while Montero "was punched in the face".

Battaglia had been one of the players present at the meeting the previous day held between players and De Carvalho and other associated board members. According to the midfielder the reasons why Sporting lost the game against Marítimo were addressed. In addition Acuña's reaction at the end of the match, when the players had gone to thank the travelling fans as is customary at the end of the match though he doesn’t note specifically what that reaction had been. He claims they were told by de Carvalho that "the fans spent the night calling him to ask for Acuña's address.” Apparently a proposal of a conversation between the Argentine and the fans was accepted. Battaglia adds that de Carvalho also asked the players present the question of if they were with him "no matter what?”

Battaglia discusses in further detail what happened after the defeat against Marítimo. He explains that there were a group of fans waiting next to the team bus, and that he went to talk to them to "reassure" them. "The fans had banners, but I don't remember what they were saying. We thanked him, applauded and went to the locker room. The fans were out of their minds because it was an important game and we lost, I asked for support because there was a Cup Final and we needed tranquility," guaranteeing that the players never insulted the fans.

Upon arrival at the airport "there were four to five people, including Fernando Mendes", asking specifically for Acuña, reporting insulting aggressions to his compatriot. "Me, William Carvalho and Jorge Jesus were talking to these fans. I spoke to them and told them that we are human beings and that we also make mistakes", and he clarifies that each of the three spoke to different fans.

Battaglia was also asked the meeting held on April the 7th, 2018, between the squad and de Carvalho. "It was a very nervous meeting. The president had discussions with Rui Patrício and William Carvalho. They were the captains and they defended us. The president accused them of not defending Sporting.”

In all three of the testimonies provided to the court we get a clear picture emerging of the rising tensions between the players and the claques with one name being repeated time and time again, that of the Juve Leo leader Fernando Mendes. Clearly when the president is in a meeting telling the players that fans have been calling him asking for Acuña's home address it tells you that Bruno de Carvalho should have been thinking about extra security measures for his players. These were attacks that left them not only fearing for their own safety but of their families and loved ones too. How and why those present thought attacking and threatening the players would cajole them into playing better in the Taça de Portugal final Lord only knows. In fact it had the opposite effect. Because even having lost to Marítimo in the final, Sporting would have gone into the final clear favourites and at the end of the day it's the actions of this idiotic minority which swung the game in the favour of the minnows. In later posts we'll hear the testimony of Bruno de Carvalho and his claims against William which might go to give you an answer to why he seemed to recognise more of who was involved than any other player. So just one more player to hear from. Join us next time when we discover what Rui Patricio had to say to the courts.