As in the first round of Europa League matches, it was a mixed bag for Portugal’s three representatives, who returned one win, one draw and one defeat.
Predictably Paulo Sousa’s Italian league leaders Fiorentina proved far too strong for Belenenses, running out 4-0 winners at the sun-drenched Restelo.
Braga made it two wins out of two with a single-goal victory over Groningen at the Quarry, while an improved Sporting drew against Besiktas in Istanbul.
Belenenses 0-4 Fiorentina
The occasional bouts of touchline arm thrashing still form part of the repertoire, the jerking indignant head still reacts to perceived injustice, but all the indicators from this clear and waveless Fiorentina win in a sun-drenched Restelo, were that manager Sá Pinto had lost this game long before his foot soldiers crossed the white lines of battle.
“We have no obligation whatsoever to win this match,” was the former Sporting chief’s curious battle-cry before the game had begun. Sure enough, his players turned up and laid down their arms almost immediately, in honour of their coach’s wise words. “The surprise would have been if we had won,” he added afterwards, to put a seal on a generally submissive Belenenses effort in their second Europa League group game ever.
This was something of a mismatch from the start, with the confident Italian league leaders determined to kick start a Europa League campaign that had begun badly with home defeat to coach Paulo Sousa’s old Basel side. With both managers looking dapper along the touchlines - although Sa Pinto’s infamous elbow patches seem to have gone the way of all items of dubious sartorial elegance - the stage was set in bright early evening sunshine for a fine clash.
Magnificent setting
When the sun slants down on the repainted, spruced up Estádio do Restelo, with the River Tejo glistening in the background and the sleepy spires of Jeronimos basking in the warmth, there is scarcely a better spot to watch football in Portugal. Watching football in itself was rendered a painful experience in the first half by a strong sun descending over the stands in front of us, necessitating the editor of this esteemed organ to wrap up like Lawrence of Arabia amongst the laptops.
An expectant crowd of well over 8,000 seemed to have been bolstered by a large phalanx of ISCTE students, all dressed in traditional start of term black robes and each carrying a set of plastic blue clappers. The noise was audible enough even if the visual impact was a little more Cirque du Soleil than Europa League. Still, they brought a touch of colour and enthusiasm that is not always present at the start of matches in sleepy Belém. Fiorentina’s surprisingly minimalist band of fans introduced a new phenomenon of their own, the half and half flag, in honour of the tifosi relationship with Sporting. Indeed an audible cheer went up from the away support when news filtered through that Sporting had taken the lead in Istanbul.
The home side lined up without Miguel Rosa, injured against Arouca, with the front line being led by a Luís Leal, who immediately appeared a yard off the pace and five or so kilos off fighting weight. Fábio Sturgeon was also included, with the lively Kuca flying down the left to sporadic effect.
Bernardeschi impresses
Fiorentina’s hub was emboldened by the elegant Matias Fernandez, once of Sporting, with the dangerous Bernardeschi flitting in behind main striker Babacar, busy giving Leal a run for his money in the solid thighs department.
The two coaches had previous Europa League history, Sousa coming out on top whilst manager of Videoton against Sá Pinto’s shaky Sporting vintage in Group G of the 2012 edition of the Europa League. Here the tables had been turned to the extent that Sousa arrived as the manager of the recognizable football giant and Serie A league leaders no less, whilst his counterpart now found himself in charge of relative European lightweights.
What did not change were the fortunes of the two bosses, however, as Fiorentina cantered into a gentle two nil lead by half time, goals courtesy of Bernardeschi after 18 minutes and a deflected Babacar shot right on half time. Videoton had done the self same first half demolition job on Sá Pinto’s Sporting four years ago, leading 3-0 after 35 minutes. The only complaints Sá Pinto’s men could have had was for a shove on Kuca in the penalty area that was missed by the clearly dazzled Macedonian referee, Mr Aleksander Stavrev.
Late double seals thrashing
Although the home side began the second half with gusto, it quickly descended into a fitness exercise for Fiorentina. Sousa (“There are no easy games in the Europa League”) must have been considering changing his quote by the end, as the visitors planted two more past Ventura in the Belenenses goal, one an unfortunate own goal from Tonel (83’) and the other a welcome and well-taken left foot effort from the serially-injured Guiseppe Rossi (90’). Perhaps tellingly, the seemingly indefatigable Carlos Martins had been brought off just before the late onslaught began.
Perhaps Belenenses were saving their energy for weekend visitors FC Porto. Perhaps they were resigned to the fact that Fiorentina were a class above. Perhaps their strength headed west with their manager’s elbow patches. Perhaps the strangely defeatist pre-match talk subdued their natural instincts to fight. Whatever the reason, by the end of this pleasantly sun-bathed game, the only ones still going strong were the noisy students with their Belenenses blue clappers.
By Simon Curtis
Braga top group, Sporting unlucky not to win
Paulo Fonseca continues to rebuild his reputation, following his forgettable spell at FC Porto. A fine season upon his return to Paços de Ferreira last term earned him the hot seat at Braga, and so far things are going rather well for him at the Quarry. Yesterday’s 1-0 victory over Groningen made it four straight victories and also meant the Arsenalistas had won back-to-back Europa League games for the first time in their history.
A lovely move involving Alan and Rafa, which was coolly finished by Hassan after just five minutes proved enough for Braga. The hosts rode out the rest of an evenly contested game of few chances to go top of Group F, thanks to Marseille’s surprise defeat at home to Liberec.
Sporting travelled to the Turkish capital to take on Ricardo Quaresma’s Besiktas and produced their best performance for several weeks. Bryan Ruiz gave the Portuguese team an early lead and Jorge Jesus’s men went on to create – and spurn – a series of chances to increase their advantage, Téo Gutiérrez especially profligate.
Besiktas punished the visitors when Gokhan Tore equalised on the hour mark after a clever build-up had got through the Sporting defence. Despite only boasting one point from two games, a draw at a tough venue can be considered a positive result for the Lions, who will feel they have every chance of getting back in contention ahead of the double-header against Albanian outfit Skenderbeu.
