The international friendly match between Fortuna Dusseldorf and Benfica Lisbon was abandoned on Saturday after the referee was pushed over by Luisao. Before half-time referee Christian Fischer was about to hand a second booking to Benfica midfielder Javi Garcia when Luisao stormed torwards him and pushed him down, according to reports from Rheinische Post. The official remained on the ground motionless for a few seconds and was in a daze for a few minutes, before abandoning the match after 38 minutes and leaving the field for treatment by Dusseldorf's team doctor.
Referee Christian Fischer said that he had not expected anything like that to happen: "I did not see the player who bumped into me coming. I wanted to book a different player for a second time, and suddenly two Benfica players were surrounding me. It was like running against a brick wall at full speed. Never before in my 20 years as a ref have I gone through something like this - not in the minor leagues and not in Bundesliga football."
Fortuna's chairman Peter Frymuth explained: "The ref was attacked and had to be treated by our doctors inside the locker room. Because of that attack the game was abandoned. I am shocked. I have 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. Let's get help from the German federation and talk with UEFA about Luisao and about what other Benfica players did. I hope they are severely punished. This should have been a day of celebration for us, but now it has becoming a depressing affair. We are sick at heart."
Rainer Koch, an official from the German Football Federation (DFB), has called on the Portuguese FA to punish the defender heavily. "The Portuguese FA has the authority in that case. There can only be a harsh penalty for such incidents. Attacks on the referee are absolutely unacceptable," said Koch. "There has to be zero tolerance in such cases. I expect the Portuguese FA to take drastic action and ban the player for quite a while, not just for a few matches."
Source: ESPN/DPA
