According to Mehr reporter, at the end of the last game of Porto football team against Estoril in the Portuguese league, Mehdi Taremi appeared in front of the camera of this network to conduct a “Flash” interview with Sport TV. The reporter of this program dedicated one of his questions to Mehdi Tarimi’s attempt to take a penalty and simulate mistakes, and this issue resulted in the strong reaction of the Porto attacker.
Taremi emphasized that in the game against Atletico Madrid, there was a collision between him and the opposing player and he did not seek to deceive the referee. In the end, Taremi left this interview half-finished, and then the head coach of Porto also boycotted the conversation with this TV in support of his attacker.
A few days after this incident, the Portuguese Football Players Union condemned the “persecution of Taremi” and “disrespect” to the Iranian striker by publishing a statement.
A part of this statement reads: “The union condemns disrespectful behavior. The beginning of the 2022/23 season was accompanied by Tarami’s troubles. The 2022/2023 season is unfortunately accompanied by numerous episodes that show an environment of humiliation, intolerance, disrespect and violence that deserves to be condemned by the united voice of all sports agents. Not only in Portugal, but across Europe, attacks and hate speech have increased in stadiums and on social media, putting the good name and professional behavior of players at risk.
The environment of constant harassment that questions the professional conduct of Porto player Mehdi Taremi is unfortunately an example of this humiliation. The players’ union, emphasizing solidarity and full support for Tarami, demands respect for this player like other players.
The statement emphasizes the principle of freedom of the press as a pillar of democracy and states: “Players and coaches have the right to accept or refuse to answer some of the questions that are asked to them. Therefore, instead of each side exercising their freedom to extremes, what is needed is for them to respect the scope of their intervention.”