Former FC Porto player recalls racism at Luz and reveals what he said to Rui Costa in the tunnel case – Football

Hulk recalled, this Friday, in an interview with Globoesporteseveral episodes from his career in Portugal, namely a case of racism in a match against Benfica in 2009, at Estádio da Luz, and also revealing what he said to Rui Costa in the tunnel case.

“At the beginning, I struggled a bit. There was even a goal that went viral, I think it was against Benfica at Estádio da Luz. I pulled the ball from the right and scored. To tell you the truth, I didn’t even realise that the fans were doing that at the time, but where I witnessed it and suffered a bit more was in Russia. The opposing fans started chanting racist chants, I suffered a lot. It was something new for me, I didn’t know how to deal with it at that moment. Afterwards, when we got to the changing room, the translator himself, together with the club director, tried to talk to me, giving me advice”, recalled the now Atlético Mineiro forward, who rose to stardom at FC Porto.

And it was precisely while playing for the Dragons that he experienced one of the most complicated moments of his career, when in the 2009/10 season he was suspended for four months due to incidents in the Luz tunnel, in a classic against Benfica.

“There was a lot of chaos in that game. At the end of the match, I was already in the locker room and I heard ‘confusion, confusion’. It was me, Fernando and one other person. We ran to see what was happening and, when we got to the tunnel, there was a lot of chaos, with pushing and shoving. Our players were talking to the security staff for the game and there was a lot of pushing and shoving and provoking. I don’t know who tried to punch one of the security guards and he punched them back. When the chaos ended, Rui Costa, who was Benfica’s director at the time, came and called me, grabbed my arm and said: ‘Hulk, what’s going on, what’s the point?’ ‘What’s the point, Rui Costa? You’re the ones who set this all up. You won the game, great, now you’re sending the security guards to cause trouble with us?’ But then there were repercussions. When we got on the bus, Sapunaru and I were suspended. Everyone was involved, but I was suspended. me and Sapunaru. We can’t understand”, lamented Hulk.