Crvena Zvezda 2-1 Braga

Braga began their Europa League campaign in disappointing fashion with defeat in Serbia against Crvena Zvezda.

The hosts took the lead in the 75th minute, but Braga hit straight back through Galeno, only to throw it all away with loose defending, conceding a penalty which was converted for the winner in the 84th minute. 

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  Val — No Trincao, no Paulinho, no Luri Medeiros. Braga just doesnt have any bite. Despite 1 particular poster claiming Ricardo Horta is better than Joao Felix (LOL) yah he isn't even close. Again spending all night trying 30-40 meter bombs that ended up in downtown Belgrade....
  Samuel — This season is gonna suck. Braga will be average in Europa League, maybe get the second place in the group. Sporting, Benfica and Porto hopefully will get the third place in their group. The only hope would be for one or two of these teams to make a deep run in Europa League, but the money reward in......

Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes is into his third season at the Premier League club and he’s off to an excellent start. The Portuguese star was in the running to be named the PFA Player of the Year in each of his first two campaigns at Old Trafford, and the time may now be ripe for him to land the prestigious award for the first time.

Fernandes has been in contention for the prize that distinguishes the best player in England’s top tier in each of his two seasons in the Premier League so far. He scored 18 goals in 37 EPL matches in the 2020/2021 season and 28 goals across all competitions, indicating an exceptional return from midfield. His assist count was also hugely impressive, setting up 18 goals in total for his teammates last season. 

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  Val — So if Ronaldo does nothing but score at club level and win awards and Bruno does nothing but score at club level and win awards and when Ronaldo joins Bruno they both score and pass with ease in a seemless transition. I wonder what the issue is a the national level....what could it be...would could......

While results were inevitably mixed for foreign-based Portuguese players across the Champions League this week, there were plenty of positive stories involving some of the biggest Luso names.

Cristiano Ronaldo continues to settle back into life at Manchester United with comfort, scoring his third goal in two matches in their surprising defeat to Young Boys in Switzerland. There was also a tremendous goal by João Cancelo for Manchester City, while Rafael Leão caught the eye for Milan at Anfield and Nuno Mendes showed positive signs during a cameo debut in the competition for Paris Saint-German.

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  Mateus.M — Nuno Mendes kind of reminds me of Roberto Carlos in a way when he starts running, they have the same explosiveness....

Primeira Liga champions Sporting have been rocked by defeat in their UEFA Champions League opener against Ajax, losing 5-1 at home to the Amsterdam outift, this Wednesday.

Four goals from ex-West Ham United forward Sebastian Haller and an additional first-half finish from Steven Berghuis condemned Sporting to an embarrassing start to their European campaign, leaving them bottom behind the defeated Besiktas in Group C.

In the Spanish capital of Madrid, ten-man FC Porto were unable to go beyond a point in their first Champions League outing, against Atlético de Madrid at the Wanda Metropolitano, after Mehdi Taremi was unlucky to see a goal of his chalked off for handball.

Also destined for a goalless night was Benfica, who on Tuesday held onto a goalless draw to share the spoils with Dynamo Kyiv in Ukraine.

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  Eddy — Soccer teams win and lose matches. This is natural. I wasn't expecting much from Sporting if I'm honest. Player movement before the start of the season combined with some injuries is never a good recipe for success in soccer. Having said all that, I never expected this. What the hell was going on? ......
  George — Not surprised Sporting got destroyed to be honest. Nerves and inexperience coupled with no Pote, Coates, and Inacio (who clearly wasn't ready) had disaster written all over it. Feddal is a horrible defender; so is Ruben Vinagre. The latter is young and can learn, I'm not sure the former can learn an......
  Dhazer — Sporting vs Ajax match was not televised on our cable network and I couldn't find a livestream. It was my first priority, but sadly I had to watch other match. When I got the notification that Ajax scored just in 2 mins, all my hopes and expectations were flushed down the toilet. How could Sporting......

Football has come a long way in Portugal since its origins when Portuguese students who returned from the UK brought it to the country in the 19th century. The first official game took place in 1875 on a field in Camacha, Madeira. Football quickly won the hearts of the Portuguese. Today the national team is one of the strongest in the world and its Primeira Liga is a highly competitive and respected league.

The upward trajectory of the nation as a football country has accentuated in recent decades, and a host of top players have come out of the Portuguese football academies, most characterised by their attractive playing style dripping with flair. A handful can be considered among the best of the best in the world game. Let’s see which players fall into this elite category. 

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  Oz — J.Moutinho 120+ Caps for Portugal, consummate professional and provided vital assists in important games for Portugal....
  Valter — Ridiculous!! The top 5. No doubt!! CR7 Eusebio L.Figo P.Futre R.Costa...
  Val — Great list. Its interesting due to his poor showing at all WC and Euro's Pauleta is never added to any best lists. He was a beast at club level and scored a respectable goal horde for Portugal during qualifying. I understand Baia was mostly a 90's guy but his greatest achievements happened in the......

Liga Bwin football returned this weekend after the conclusion of the season’s first international break. League leaders Benfica maintained their 100% start by thrashing Santa Clara, taking advantage of Sporting and Porto sharing the spoils in the campaign’s inaugural “Clássico”.

Spoil sharing was a common theme of the round, draws taking place in every match but two in an intensely-fought selection of games.

One of those that didn’t end in stalemate though was Estoril’s triumph at Tondela which maintained their fantastic, unbeaten return to the top flight. The star of the show, and PortuGOAL Figure of the Week, was young Portuguese forward Chiquinho, whose goal and assist helped take all three points and his team to second place in the division.

João Félix played his first minutes of the season on Sunday, replacing Antoine Griezmann for the final half hour in Atletico Madrid’s 2-1 victory away at Espanyol in La Liga.

The Portugal international missed the early stages of the season following ankle surgery, carried out just days after the Seleção’s defeat to Belgium in the European Championships. Having struggled with the problem for much of last season, an operation was deemed inevitable and Félix says the procedure has been successful.

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  John Senos — Oh poor Joao Felix.... your agent, Jorge Mendes, did not have your best interests in mind. Collect a huge fee to get you transferred to a coach does not play to your style and allows you to get beat up playing defense. 21 years old and already having surgeries. Note to young players in Portu......

On a weekend of high output for Portuguese goalscorers across Europe, some of Portugal’s best-known exports hit the back of the net in the continent’s top leagues. With much of the headlines taken by Cristiano Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva in England, there were also major stories in Italy, Spain, Germany and beyond as Luso players struck in 13 different countries!

Gonçalo Guedes is enjoying a promising spell with Valencia, and his goal in victory at Osasuna briefly took Los Ches top of the table in Spain. Meanwhile, a seven-goal thriller in the Bundesliga saw Borussia Dortmund overcome Bayer Leverkusen with the help of a vintage Raphaël Guerreiro free-kick, while Rafael Leão has goals in consecutive games for AC Milan after opening the scoring in their win over Lazio.

José Mourinho conducted a classic run down the touchline to celebrate Roma’s stoppage-time winner against Sassuolo on Sunday night, as the Gialorossi went top of Serie A and maintained their 100% start to the season.

Stephan El Shaarawy’s 91st-minute goal at the Stadio Olimpico gave Roma a 2-1 win over Sassuolo on a difficult evening for Mourinho’s side. Rui Patricio drew widespread praise for his performance in helping the club from the capital overcome an impressive Sassuolo side, while for Mourinho the chance to mark his 1,000th game in management with three points clearly meant more than he had previously conceded.

In a new podcast wonderfully called “The Tactical Melon”, last night’s clássico between Sporting Clube de Portugal and FC Porto is broken down.

Luso-Australian sports journalist Vitor Sobral, now living back in the motherland in Gaia is your host, and he and coach Rui Tomé (former youth team coach at Sporting, Porto and Braga, and now at Vitória Guimarães), explain the tactical nuances behind the entertaining 1-1 draw at Alvalade. 

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  Samuel — Superb podcast. Great to have someone with the experience and knowledge of Rui Tome analyzing in depth of the key moments of the game. Cannot wait for the next one....

More Articles ...

  1. The dream return: Ronaldo marks Old Trafford reunion with brace as Bruno hits Golaço
  2. “He can have a big season” – Guardiola hails match-winner Bernardo Silva
  3. Sporting and Porto share the spoils in fierce Clássico
  4. Benfica hit fifth gear en route to the top after second Braga draw
  5. ENGLAND: Bruno Lage’s Wolves earn first win as Spurs’ perfect start under Nuno ends

      

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Congratulations to Ajax; they were better than us. We have to learn from this defeat, especially the coach. We have to look at the match and understand what went wrong.”

Rúben Amorim
(Sporting coach after his team's thumping home defeat in their opening Champions League match) 
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