Manager laments 21-0 victory: 'It was a sad day...'

"In our dressing room, no one was happy" — was the assurance given to A BOLA by Renato Coimbra, manager of Vila Real, following their 21-0 victory over Salto on matchday four of the AF Vila Real district league last weekend.

The 29-year-old tactician explained why it was an "unpleasant feeling" for winners and losers alike: "When you enter a competition, what matters most is that nobody knows the outcome beforehand. Why do we all love the Premier League? Because the results are unpredictable. When scorelines like this happen, there is no competitiveness, no excitement, nothing. It was a sad day for everyone."

A 21-0 win was something the black-and-white faithful had never witnessed before, as four-goal winger Gonçalo Vidazinha told our newspaper: "It was the highest-scoring game in Vila Real's history. The previous record was 15-0 or 14-0. Winning 21-0 goes down in the history books and will hardly ever be matched."

"The only time I'd seen so many goals was playing against Chaves at youth level, but back then I was on the receiving end, conceding 10 or 11 [laughs]. Winning by such a margin had never happened to me," revealed the winger, who previously turned out for Abambres, Vila Real, and Chaves, and played for Vitória de Guimarães' Under-19 and Under-23 sides alongside Alberto Costa, Luís Esteves, and Dani Silva.

Addressing the massive scoreline against Salto, the 24-year-old insisted it was delivered out of... respect: "By playing seriously, we were showing them respect. We had a job to do, we found the spaces, and the chances came. Just because you are 5-0 up doesn't mean you should take your foot off the gas. We gave our best on every single play and ended up scoring plenty of goals. It all happened naturally. Slowing down would have been truly disrespectful and condescending toward our opponent."

"Showing respect means playing properly and staying focused throughout the entire game. We took it seriously from start to finish, and that respect led to an exaggerated scoreline," agreed Renato Coimbra, praising the defeated side's "exemplary attitude": "The only thing I said to the Salto players was to keep going, because they have every right to be there. It was already 13-0 at half-time, and it would have been so easy for them to come out for the second half, start dishing out fouls, or lose their heads, but they never did. They showed exemplary conduct on the pitch and tried to play football."

"I'd also like to express my appreciation to Salto, who never turned their backs on the game or pulled out of challenges, maintaining a disciplined attitude and always trying their best. They could have walked off the pitch or refused to play. It's a club rebuilding itself, and I hope they keep working and don't give up," added Gonçalo Vidazinha.

At full-time, the Salto players returned the sentiment and 'thanked' Vila Real for not easing up. "They did their job; they didn't have to slow down. Naturally, none of us took offense," Salto captain Tiago Pinho assured in an interview with A BOLA.

"Most of the goals came from our own mistakes—poor marking, lack of experience... I was the oldest player on the pitch at 32," he pointed out.

Tiago Pinho captains Salto — a team representing the 20 villages of the local parish — and has also been serving as... caretaker manager. "For now, it's just me and another player from the veterans squad who have been trying to organize things and guide the team," he explained.

The team captain also revealed that the club had not competed in the district league (their sole competitive division) since 2019, with the decision to return largely driven by a recent facility upgrade: "The club had folded due to a lack of players. In the past, we had a dirt pitch, and it was very difficult to attract players to come here. Now we have an artificial turf pitch, and to justify having the synthetic turf, we formed a team. It's all very new, so it's normal to see results like this."

"Half the squad came from futsal, and many are still youth players. It's very tough: we had only one substitute on the bench, no coach, and we train twice a week, whereas they train every day and play at a completely different tempo... We are rebuilding, and I believe by mid-season we'll be in much better shape," he predicted.

Tiago Pinho also shared an exclusive update with our newspaper: "It's difficult managing the group without a coaching staff, but starting this week, we'll have a manager in place, and things will be different."

Reflecting on the broader impact of the 21-0 defeat — which, for Salto, followed heavy losses of 7-0, 6-0, and 5-2 —, the Vila Real manager called for structural changes to the district association's competitive format.

"A blowout like this makes no sense. We want competitive, evenly matched games. These kinds of scorelines damage the reputation of our Association and weaken the competition," lamented Renato Coimbra, noting nonetheless that "there is real quality in AF Vila Real — good coaches and players —, but the disparity between certain teams is so vast that it undermines our credibility."

The solution? "Creating two divisions, even with nine teams each, would make it far more motivating, especially for mid-table sides. In an 18-team single-table league, what motivation does an 8th, 14th, or bottom-placed team have? They run out of objectives, which leads to complacency. With two tiers and promotion and relegation at stake, teams would fight right until the end," the 29-year-old manager emphasized.

"The Association cannot allow this kind of result, because they are the biggest losers in all of this. If you look at the country's top district leagues — AF Porto, Braga, or Lisbon — you don't see such lopsided scorelines," he compared, adding that "those in power must take action to elevate regional football."

Despite racking up three consecutive routs (21-0, 7-1, and 4-1), Vila Real dropped points in an opening-day 2-2 draw against Régua. Both teams currently share the top spot on 10 points and remain strong candidates for promotion to the Campeonato de Portugal.