By Melody Gross 
Green fans responded to Joao Mario joins Benfica With a long post on social media. Sports fans asked fans to support the club exclusively and not deify any player, referring to the naming of “Zero Idolos,” and recalled other instances of players, such as Futre and Inácio, who had replaced Lions with rival Segunda Circular.
Read the statement:
Zero Idols, today and forever!
Torcida Verde has always taken a stand regarding its relationship with professional footballers. The transformation of football into a company, in which footballers are always “active” in the market, has changed the relationship between fans and football players.
In the 1980s, the decade of Torcida Verde, the transformation into a competitor, from a footballer with ‘roots’ in our club, was accidental, causing panic and revolution in the green and white nation. In this sense, the departure of Inácio and Futre to the opponent from the north left fans in a state of intense excitement.
In the ’90s, episodes were back-to-back, as well as growing disappointments. At Torcida Verde, we felt that we were living in a new paradigm in which the relationship with footballers must be placed in a strict sphere of respect with the professionals who “pass” through our wonderful SCP. The worship of idols was a thing of the past, and its last translators were probably athletes such as Captain Carlos Xavier, Marco Aurelio, and Oceano Cruz.
Still in the old EJA [Estádio José Alvalade]We’ve gotten into the subject of banned soccer players, leaving alerts that it’s time to get it checked out. In the new EJA, the introduction of the track “ZERO ÍDOLOS” was an affirmation of the situation, admittedly, against the tide. The fact that we don’t promote football players to ‘idols’ has never meant any hostility or hostility. Conversely, Torcida Verde has, at some point, engaged in official or unofficial hostilities against any SCP specialist.
It would demand of us the impossible to take part in the pagan circus that nourishes football agents and commissioners… and above all causes untold disappointment in the masses. Something superfluous, given the huge number of footballers and other athletes changing SCP for better financial conditions.
The latest case is related to Joao Mario. Let it be a ring that will surely help TRUE fans of the great SCP spend their energies in exclusive support of the club. Enough!
Joao Mario is…a professional soccer player. He turned into a business owner who would provide him with great material conditions. Who can “request” the supporters of the Communist Party of Pakistan, and a slave to the athlete, who will “inevitably pass” by our club???
Zero idols! For sporting and no one else! “.