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Europe: Porto and Braga crash and burn, Sporting set fair

Manuel Fernandes, Cristiano Ronaldo, Bernardo Silva and Bruma impress

European club competitions resumed this week with some outstanding action all around the continent, bringing mixed fortunes for Portuguese teams and individuals.

Porto had high hopes of obtaining a positive result against Liverpool at the Estádio do Dragão to set up an exciting Champions League second leg at Anfield. But it all went horribly wrong as Sérgio Conceição’s men crashed to a 5-0 defeat – the heaviest home defeat in Porto’s entire history.

Braga did not do much better in the Europa League, and were lucky to escape with only a 3-0 loss at Marseille, but it was better news for Sporting who turned around a half-time deficit to beat Astana 3-1 and all but book their place in the last sixteen.

Elsewhere, Manuel Fernandes, Cristiano Ronaldo, Bernardo Silva and Bruma all put on a show of Portuguese flair to help their clubs to positive results. PortuGOAL rounds up the action.

Porto 0-5 Liverpool

Although without arguably their best defender (Felipe, suspended), best midfielder (Danilo, injured) and best forward (Aboubakar, injured), the Dragons started brightly and almost took an early lead as Otávio’s shot was deflected marginally over the bar with Liverpool goalkeeper Karius beaten.

Liverpool took the lead on the 25th minute with Porto goalkeeper José Sá doubly culpable. First, he attempted to find a team-mate with a rash throw from his penalty box, the ball was intercepted and eventually worked to Sadio Mané. The Senegalese forward’s cross-shot should have been dealt with by Sá but the goalkeeper let the ball squirm through his grasp and watched in horror as it trickled into the net. Not five minutes had elapsed when Liverpool doubled their lead, Mohamed Salah finishing neatly after more poor defending saw the English side slice through Porto’s defence.

The home side suddenly had a mountain to climb. Tiquinho Soares almost pulled a goal back just before the break but his shot from the top of the box fizzed the wrong side of the post. Liverpool are known for their prowess on the break and this facet of their game was on show in all its glory in the second forty-five minutes as a series of superb counter-attacks ended with further goals from Sané – twice to complete his hat-trick – and Firmino to make it a chastening night for Porto and render the second leg a mere formality.

Astana 1-3 Sporting

Sporting made the trip of over 6,000 kilometres to face Kazakh champions Astana in the Europa League last 16, and the Portuguese team appeared to still be sleepy from their long plane journey as a lethargic start was punished by the hosts when Tomasov volleyed in the opening goal after just 7 minutes.

Bruno Fernandes twice came close to an equaliser with typically fine efforts from range, but the home goalkeeper Eric athletically dived to deny the Portuguese midfielder on both occasions, while at the other end of the pitch Patrício was also called into action to save from Tomasov. Sporting thought they had equalised on the stroke of half time, but Doumbia’s goal was ruled out – wrongly as TV replays showed – for offside.

The Portuguese team started the second half in devastating fashion with three quick-fire goals to completely turn around the match. Astana defender Logvinenko gave away a penalty when handling the ball to prevent a cross reaching Doumbia’s head, and Fernandes made no mistake from the spot. Two minutes later and an outstanding piece of skill by Marcos Acuña won the Argentine space behind the Astana defence. His cross found Gelson Martins, who rifled in a shot from a tight angle.

By the 55th minute Sporting had turned a dangerous result into a comfortable one, as a fine combination between Acuña and Fernandes enabled the latter to cross low into the box where Doumbia fired into the net to make it 3-1. Soon afterwards Astana were reduced to 10 men as Logvinenko’s miserable match was compounded by a second yellow.

Bryan Ruiz, Gelson Martins and Bruno Fernandes all spurned chances to put Sporting out of sight, and Astana almost pulled back a goal late on as Anicic’s long-range effort came back off the post, but Jorge Jesus will be confident his side can finish off the job next week in Lisbon.

Marseille 3-0 Braga

Braga fell to a heavy defeat on France’s south coast, having been completely outplayed from start to finish by Marseille. Germain gave the hosts the perfect start by finding the net after five minutes, and the Ligue 1 side gradually ratcheted up the pressure against a Braga team unable to replicate anything like their best form this season.

The second half especially was one-way traffic with Braga’s net leading a charmed life, but with just over 20 minutes remaining and only one goal separating the teams, Abel Ferreira must have nurtured strong hopes that the tie would be decided in Portugal in a week’s time at the Quarry.

However, despite the best efforts of Braga’s Brazilian goalkeeper Matheus, who made a series of outstanding saves, Marseille’s avalanche of attacking play got its due reward. Germain again the Thauvin hit the net to give the score-line a more realistic look and surely end Braga’s hopes of progressing in the competition.

‘Manny’ Fernandes on fire

Manuel Fernandes is one of Portuguese football’s great enigmas. Bursting onto the scene as a precociously talented teenager at Benfica, the skilful midfielder has displayed moments of absolute brilliance throughout his career, for several different teams in a variety of countries, but unfortunately these moments have been all too fleeting.

Only now, at 32 years of age, is the midfielder producing a sustained period of high-quality play, having become the star behind Lokomotiv Moscow’s considerable recent success. At Nice on Thursday evening it appeared he would have to play second fiddle to another footballing enigma, Mario Balotelli, the Italian international putting the French side into an early 2-goal lead. But Fernandes was in no mood to be upstaged and produced a hat-trick thanks to a penalty, a magnificent strike direct from a free-kick and an emphatic 15-yard finish to turn the match around and allow the Russian outfit to take a 3-2 lead into the second leg in Moscow.

Remarkably, it was Fernandes’s second hat-trick in this season’s Europa League, having scored three times in just 17 minutes against Czech team FC Fastav Zlin in the group stage. His exploits have not gone unnoticed, with Fernando Santos calling Fernandes into the Portugal squad for the November friendies, where he left a good impression and scored a goal in the 3-0 victory against Saudi Arabia. If Fernandes keeps up this form, he could well make it into Portugal’s World Cup squad.

Ronaldo, Bernardo and Bruma shine

The standout Champions League match this week saw Real Madrid host PSG, and once again Cristiano Ronaldo used the biggest of stages to remind everyone how he loves to dominate this competition. PSG had the better of the play for long periods, but two goals from Ronaldo (one from the penalty spot) gave the Merengues a precious 3-1 lead to take to Paris in a fortnight’s time.

Bernardo Silva is increasingly finding his space at Manchester City. Fierce competition for places in Pep Guardiola’s star-studded team limited the former Benfica and Monaco player’s chances in the first half of the season, but he has been playing, scoring and assisting regularly since the turn of the year. In an easy 4-0 victory against Basel on Tuesday night Bernardo found the net again with a fine left-foot finish. Later in the game, so beautiful was Bernardo’s instant control of a high looping ball that the instance of sublime skill found its way into a GIF and duly did the rounds on the internet and twitter. See for yourself.

Another Portuguese who is gradually making his mark having upgraded the league he plays in is Bruma. The ex-Sporting and Galatasaray winger scored for Leipzig as the German side surprised Italian outfit Napoli with a 3-1 win at the San Paolo.

by Tom Kundert