Former Manchester United winger Nani says José Mourinho is the best coach the club could have to turn around their troublesome season, as the Portuguese boss prepares for what could be a busy and potentially defining Christmas period with the Old Trafford club.

Meanwhile in England, André Gomes has been reflecting on his outstanding start to life at Everton, while his boss Marco Silva already fields questions about the midfielder’s future amid interest from elsewhere. There is also interest across England in Porto youngster Diogo Queirós.

Portuguese internationals João Cancelo and Gonçalo Guedes are out of action until next year after both picked up injuries that required surgery this week at Juventus and Valencia respectively.

Meanwhile, Seleção midfielder Rony Lopes' long wait for a return to action with French Ligue 1 club Monaco continues, after already missing a third of his team’s season with a thigh injury.

It was an excellent week for Portuguese clubs in Europe as Porto, Benfica and Sporting all clocked up wins. Porto’s 3-2 win at Galatasaray saw the Dragons equal their highest ever points total in the group stage of the Champions League – 16. Benfica saw off AEK Athens in Lisbon thanks to a superb Álex Grimaldo free kick late on, and also in the Portuguese capital the following night Sporting kept up their good form under new coach Marcel Keizer, beating Ukrainian outfit Vorskla Poltava 3-0.

Elsewhere, there was a second brace of the season in the Champions League for Raphaël Guerreiro, while Pedro Martins’ Olympiakos celebrate progress in the Europa League at the expense of AC Milan and Ricardo Quaresma counts the cost of a red card as Besiktas crash out of the competition on Thursday night.

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  Nick J — Battling display in a mental stadium but Maxi continues to be a liability – he lets his man go for the first goal then gives up the penalty for the second. If you’re the opposing manager and you look for weaknesses to target in the Champ League knock-outs… it’ll be the right side of defence.......

There is no information or statistics proving that the English Premier League is the best football league in the world. It is an old discussion that will go on and on. But, undoubtedly, the EPL is the most followed football league in the world and is the top league in terms of marketing and financial success.

Its competitiveness, history and money have attracted many of the world’s elite footballers and coaches, and the Premier League also stands out because of its high intensity and attacking style of football throughout the 90 minutes. Nowadays the EPL is increasingly acquiring a distinctly Portuguese flavour, as players and coaches who started out in the Primeira Liga make their way to England for a slice of the action. 

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  Nick J — English Premier League? Where all the money is foreign, the owners foreign, the best players foreign, the managers foreign... What a con this league is. Easily the most-overrated league on the planet - the English have learned from the yanks that it doesn't mater about the product if you market it e......

Jornada 12 of Liga NOS was largely business as usual, the top 5 in the division remaining as they were after recording victories. Notably Vitória Guimarães edged a thriller against their rivals for 5th place Rio Ave, while Marcel Keizer’s 100% start as Sporting manager continued after a comfortable win over Aves.

It’s defending champions Porto though who are looking close to their unstoppable best at the moment, the goals continuing to flow for the division’s top scorers in a 4-1 defeat of Portimonense. Up front Mali striker Moussa Marega looks to have hit top form again after some early season disciplinary issues, and he is PortuGOAL’s Figure of the Week.

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  Nick J — West Ham were unable to make a deal stick for Marega but expect some bigger sharks to circle the Malian come January. Yeh, as if we'd sell him in January. He'll prob go in summer to the Prem League (Everton? Southampton?) and we'll wish him luck and take the cash....

With the top of the Primeira Liga table nicely-crammed with contenders, FC Porto did the honours of getting the ball rolling this week with a 4-1 victory home versus Portimonense, consolidating top-spot before their final UEFA Champions’ League encounter.

Both Sporting de Braga and Benfica followed the table-topper’s win with triumphs of their own, albeit by the minimal 1-0 advantage over Tondela and Vitória de Setúbal, respectively, as Marcel Keizer’s Sporting geared up to receive Desportivo das Aves on Sunday night.

The Dutchman’s bright start to life in Lisbon gained more traction as the Lions, despite going down to ten men, stacked up on the goals once more to defeat Aves 4-1 at the Alvalade. PortuGOAL brings you more from Matchday 12:

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  Nick J — Only caught the second half of the Porto game but once the second goal went in it was pretty much game over. They haven’t played like that since last season. Marega scores a lot of goals for such a limited player. Playing Corona at RB is working out but you have to wonder whats going on with Joao ......

Diogo Jota has officially arrived in the English Premier League. The Portuguese attacker followed up his midweek winner against Chelsea by scoring the first and creating the second as Wolverhampton Wanderers won 2-1 at Newcastle to give Nuno Espírito Santo back-to-back wins in the English top flight.

Elsewhere, there were goals for Portuguese in Italy, where Bruno Alves scored with a stunning free-kick, as well as Bulgaria, Cyprus, Poland and the English and Spanish second tiers. It was also an important weekend for Portuguese bosses Miguel Cardoso and Pedro Caixinha, while Manuel Fernandes, João Cancelo and Raphaël Guerreiro were among the assist-makers.

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  Jerrold Hewson — Damn, that was a GREAT free kick!!!!!...

Wolverhampton Wanderers ended their recent run of poor results in spectacular fashion on Wednesday by coming from behind to beat Chelsea at Molineux. Diogo Jota scored the winning goal for Wolves, who were praised by their delighted Portuguese manager Nuno Espírito Santo after the match.

Meanwhile, another draw for Manchester United at Old Trafford against Arsenal has done little to help José Mourinho’s side in their hopes of a top four finish, but there was some positive news at the Theatre of Dreams as Diogo Dalot made his full Premier League debut for the Red Devils.

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  Nick J — Well done Diogo Jota! So many excellent young Portuguese players. Just fire Mourinho! Though I have to say Pogba is the most overrated player in the world by a long way. Never has a player "achieved" so much by doing so little. A passenger at Juve where Pirlo/Marchisio/Vidal did the biz, 2 decent ......

In the latest Seleção podcast, host Danny Pinto and PortuGOAL contributor Nathan Motz discuss the Nations League semi-final draw, the EURO 2020 qualifying draw, the Ballon D'Or results, and Cristiano Ronaldo's absence from the National Team since the World Cup. 

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  Helder — On your final point, you can't quantify every in soccer. Also between 2010 to 2015 the award was under FIFA not French Football, so their was a different voting structure back then....

When Diogo Dalot came on as a late substitute for Luke Shaw in Manchester United’s 2-2 draw with Southampton on Saturday, making his Premier League debut, it added another impressive achievement for a player that only played his first senior match a little over a year ago.

The young full-back has built an impressive reputation since he burst onto the scene two years ago with Portugal’s U17 squad at the European Championships, helping them win the title and being named in the team of the tournament.  Despite making only eight senior appearances in all competitions last season with FC Porto, his performances were enough to earned him a summer move to one of Europe’s top clubs.

PortuGoal takes a closer look at the player José Mourinho called “the best young full-back in Europe.” 

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  Rooster — I am trying to figure out how Portugal has so much talent and yet Portuguese team hardly have any Portuguese players on their roster. People keep saying " they can't hold on to them , blah blah blah" here is an example Diogo , he played a few games and sold for 19 Million. I am a Porto fan and s......
  Justin/rochester — I doubted Joao Cancelo a lot during the build up to the World Cup so much so that I completely wrote him off. I remember him playing a couple games for us and honestly he looked like he had no idea what sport he was playing not just his position as a right back. This year on Juventus he has complete......

More Articles ...

  1. PortuGOAL Figure of the Week: Fredy's brace boosts Belenenses
  2. Primeira Liga title race: Benfica bounce back, Braga victorious, Porto grab last-gasp winner, Keizer’s Sporting continue to impress
  3. Portuguese Abroad round-up: Ronaldo, Bernardo on target, Cédric stuns United; Cardoso’s first Celta win; late heartbreak for Silva’s Everton
  4. Portuguese Abroad shorts: Rony Lopes injury setback; Gomes earning Everton praise; West Ham’s Xande Silva on his idols; Nélson Oliveira to Besiktas?
  5. Europe: Irresistible Porto swat aside Schalke, Benfica blown away by Bayern, Sporting run riot

      

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