Gonçalo Ramos scored his first goals for Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday evening, helping the French champions to a resounding 4-0 victory over fierce rivals Marseille at the Parc des Princes.
A summer signing from Benfica, Ramos was introduced in the first half to replace the injured Kylian Mbappe, and responded by scoring twice as PSG ran out easy winners of Le Classique in the capital.
Portimonense 1-3 Benfica
Benfica have responded to their midweek debacle versus Red Bull Salzburg with a return to winning ways in the Primeira Liga, defeating Portimonense 3-1 away from home, this Sunday.
The Eagles got off to a flyer with an early goal from Alexander Bah, followed up by a second via Petar Musa in the 17th minute to leave the title holders firmly in command of the contest.
That grip threatened to be fumbled after Hélio Varela’s second-half goal for Portimonense paved the way for a potential equaliser from the spot for Rildo, prior to an important penalty save from Anatoliy Trubin on the hour mark.
The miss was further compounded by Benfica’s third goal just six minutes later, attained by David Neres, as the visitors secured three crucial points in their bid to climb back up the league table.
It’s been a whirlwind week for Portuguese clubs in Europe, with differing fortunes for Porto, Benfica, Braga and Sporting. We turn the focus back to domestic football by looking ahead to Jornada 6 of the Primeira Liga season, and not only how those four teams will respond to their mid-week results.
How will surprise league leaders Boavista fair? Can Chaves break out of their dreadful form under a new manager? Plus a host of other intriguing storylines as league action resumes.
Sturm Graz 1-2 Sporting
Sporting began their European campaign with a comeback win against Sturm Graz, thus obtaining a first victory in Austria in the club’s history, at the seventh attempt.
A much-changed Sporting fell behind in the second half when Willian Boving scored to send the home fans wild, but late goals from Viktor Gyökeres and Ousmane Diomande earned the Portuguese team all three points.
Portuguese involvement in the Europa League on Thursday evening yielded both positive and negative stories for Luso players flying the flag in continental football.
Carlos Forbs had a night to remember with Ajax, scoring his first goal in senior football during their thrilling 3-3 draw with Marseille. However, the night brought further injury frustration for Renato Sanches, who was forced off midway through the first half of Roma’s win at Moldovans Sheriff.
Not many clubs in Europe have a stronger academy than Sporting Clube de Portugal.
Throw in an astute scouting operation, and the ingredients are there explaining why the Lisbon Lions manage to successfully combine productive work in the transfer market with maintaining a competitive and strong squad.
PortuGOAL looks back at ten of Sporting’s most notable sales.
A nightmare first 15 minutes in Lisbon tonight saw Benfica concede two penalties and have António Silva sent off, all owing to infantile mistakes.
Nevertheless, trailing by a single goal, 10-man Benfica rallied and created several chances to draw level, only to be let down by more haphazard defending in the second half to allow Salzburg to double their lead.
There was no way back for Benfica, especially given the wonderful performance from Austrian goalkeeper Alexander Schlager, in sharp contrast to a poor display from his opposite number Anatoliy Trubin.
Braga’s UEFA Champions League group stage campaign began with a 2-1 defeat to Napoli at the Quarry.
Victor Osimhen was a constant danger in an exciting first half which ended with Giovanni Di Lorenzo’s added time strike giving Matheus no chance.
Ricardo missed a great chance to equalise after the break, but Braga stayed in the contest and drew level in the 84th minute when Bruma diverted Rodrigo Zalazar’s cross past Alex Meret.
The Warriors couldn’t hold on however, José Fonte’s failed clearance resulting in Piotr Zielinski’s cross being turned into his own net by Sikou Niakaté.
Pizzi rattled the woodwork in added time, the Italian champions holding on to take all three points and join Real Madrid at the top of Group C.
This week Barney & Albert discuss all the action from Jornada 5 of the 2023/24 Primeira Liga season, starting with the unlikely league leaders Boavista, who continued their excellent run of form with a 4-1 win over Chaves. Chaves fell to their 5th consecutive loss and as a result disposed of manager José Gomes.
There was joy for the Algarve sides against teams from the Minho region as Farense beat Braga in Faro, before Portimonense got an unlikely away win against Vitória in Guimarães. The big 3 clubs all won, Sporting putting on their best display of the season against Moreirense, Porto switching things up against Estrela, and Benfica cruising to another routine win against Vizela.
The group stage of the Champions League began on Tuesday night, with João Félix arguably the star performer as the curtain raised on Europe’s premier club competition.
Félix, who scored his first goal for Barcelona at the weekend, added a brace and an assist as the Spanish champions hammered Antwerp 5-0 in Catalonia. Meanwhile, Seleção midfielder Vitinha was awarded Most Valuable Player in Paris Saint-Germain’s 2-0 victory over Borussia Dortmund.
Shakhtar Donetsk 1-3 FC Porto
Porto got their Champions League campaign off to a positive start, beating Ukrainian outfit Shakhtar Donetsk 3-1 in an open and entertaining game in Hamburg tonight.
Wenderson Galeno was the star of the show, netting twice and assisting Mehdi Taremi in a frantic first half hour of the match, in which all the goals were scored, including an equaliser for the hosts through Kevin Kelsy.
Jornada five arrived in Liga Portugal 2 with the table now starting to take shape.
It is Santa Clara who led the Liga with relative comfort at this early stage of the season, but would they finally be troubled when Penafiel visited the Azores on Saturday?
Elsewhere, AVS aimed to extend their undefeated streak to seven games in all competitions when they faced off against the Liga’s bottom side, winless Länk Vilaverdense.
When Portuguese Bruno Lage took control of runaway Brazilian leaders Botafogo this summer, the former Benfica boss was fully aware there were some unenviable aspects to the position.
Botafogo surprised many by storming clear at the top of the Campeonato Brasileiro during the opening third of the season, but after manager Luis Casto departed for Al Nassr in July, it was his countryman Lage who was chosen to continue an unexpected title charge.
Portugal midfielder Renato Sanches says he hopes his injury problems are behind him, after scoring on his full debut for Roma on Sunday evening against Empoli.
Sanches scored with a header inside the first ten minutes, as coach José Mourinho carefully managed his introduction by limiting his outing to 45 minutes at the Stadio Olimpico.
Roma 7-0 Empoli
Renato Sanches is off the mark at Roma after scoring in a sensational 7-0 victory for José Mourinho’s side over Empoli in Serie A on Sunday evening.
On what was his first start for the Giallorossi since a summer move from Paris Saint-Germain, Renato headed in the second before being substituted at half time by Mourinho, who later insisted he was not totally satisfied with the performance.
Sporting went joint top of the Primeira Liga after beating Moreirense at Alvalade tonight thanks to three second-half goals.
The newly promoted team made things tough for Sporting in the first half, following up their good showings against Porto and Braga, although the visitors also rode their luck with the home team twice hitting the woodwork.
But Sporting eventually wore them down, in no small measure thanks to the infectious energy of Swedish striker Viktor Gyökeres. Morten Hjulmand opened the scoring, Gyökeres netted the second and Ousmane Diomande added a late third.
João Félix admitted that he was delighted to be back in form after a sparkling display in Barcelona’s 5-0 win over Real Betis in La Liga.
Making his first start for Los Cules, Félix scored the opening goal and caused constant problems for the Betis backline, while João Cancelo added the 5th late on with a fine individual effort.
Vizela 1-2 Benfica
“Football is sometimes like that,” said Benfica manager Roger Schmidt when asked about Vizela’s fightback on Saturday night.
The Lisbon side looked in control through most of the match after early goals from Petar Musa and Ángel Di María, but a 70th minute penalty added some late tension and drama.
Benfica prevailed 2-1 at the Estádio do FC Vizela but questions remain over the tactics, chemistry and the starting eleven.
Farense picked up a second consecutive home win after a deserved 3-1 victory against Braga at Estádio de São Lúis.
Bruno Duarte opened the scoring in the 31st minute just seconds after João Moutinho rattled the bar.
Rui Costa missed a great chance to extend the lead before being gifted another chance by Matheus, the forward taking advantage and firing into an empty net.
José Mota’s side wasted a golden opportunity to extend their lead after the break after when Abel Ruiz fouled Artur Jorge in the six-yard box, Costa’s slamming the spot kick into the carpark.
Simon Banza headed home Álvaro Djaló’s cross to reduce the deficit, but Braga’s hopes were seriously dented in the 58th minute.
Matheus went walkabout once again, the impressive Belloumi finding the net before Farense closed it out.
FC Porto coach Sérgio Conceição surprised everyone with a radical change of personnel and a new tactical setup against Estrela da Amadora on Friday night.
Things soon had to be mixed up again after early injuries forced centre-back Iván Marcano and striker Evanilson off.
Despite another subpar performance by Porto, and an energetic and enterprising display by the hosts, a single goal by substitute Mehdi Taremi gave the Dragons all three points.
The September international break is pretty much universally hated. Having been starved of club football throughout the summer, no sooner has it returned it is cruelly taken away from us. Not only are we desperate for league football to return, but with the transfer window coming to an end, many of us are also desperate to see any deadline day signings in action for their new teams.
For some clubs and managers however the break could not have come soon enough, and the likes of Chaves and Portimonense will be hoping they can now kickstart their seasons. Vitória made the first managerial change of the season and new coach Paulo Turra would have been grateful for the international break to spend some time on the training ground with his new team, putting his new ideas into practice.
The end of the international break also sees a new challenge present itself to the teams at the top end of the table, as we see the welcome headache of midweek European football come into play. As Benfica’s Roger Schmidt put it “the season starts in earnest after the break.” That is putting it mildly as Benfica, Porto, Braga and Sporting all have tough games in Europe to come. It’s a time when we’ll start to see these team’s psychological strength and squad depth tested properly for the first time.
Portugal’s national women’s football championship (Liga BPI) kicks off this weekend, and was preceded, like in the men’s game, with the Super Cup as the traditional season curtain raiser.
In a terrifically entertaining spectacle at the Aveiro municipal stadium, Benfica came out on top to lift the trophy against city rivals Sporting in a penalty shootout, just as they had done last season.
The Polish Football Association have confirmed the departure of Fernando Santos as national team manager with immediate effect, following a poor run of results in European Championship qualification.
Santos’ last match in charge of Poland on Sunday ended in a 2-0 defeat to Albania, leaving them 4th in their Euro 2024 qualifying group. A meeting on Tuesday in Warsaw did not yield an immediate decision, but PZPN president Cezary Kulesza announced the news on Wednesday afternoon.
In episode 81 of The Seleção Podcast, Danny Pinto is joined by Albert and Barney, hosts of the Long Ball Futebol Podcast.
The guys look back at Portugal’s two victories over Slovakia and Luxembourg and give their thoughts on the job Seleção manager Roberto Martínez has done thus far.
Albert and Barney also discuss the beginning of the Liga Portugal season and what to look forward to in the upcoming phase of club football.
Danny finishes by elaborating on his tweet that almost broke Seleção/CR7 Twitter.
Portugal made is six straight wins in the European Championship qualifiers after a history making 9-0 victory against Luxembourg at Estádio do Algarve.
The Seleção led 4-0 at half-time, Bruno Fernandes instrumental with Gonçalo Inácio and Gonçalo Ramos scoring two goals each.
Roberto Martínez’s side went on with the job in the second half, Diogo Jota coming alive with two goals of his own either side of an assist for Ricardo Horta.
Bruno Fernandes got a goal his performance deserved with João Félix putting the icing on the cake with a sweet strike into the top corner.
The victory is Portugal's largest in history, eclipsing 8-0 victories in 1994, 1999 and 2003.
PortuGOAL’s Matthew Marshall reports from Loulé.
Portuguese manage Fernado Santos is enduring a tough life as boss of the Poland national team, but is adamant he will not be forced into an early resignation.
Poland were beaten 2-0 by Albania in Tirana on Sunday, leaving them 4th in Group E of the European Championship qualifiers. With just three matches remaining and the team looking underwhelming, Poland’s chances of securing a place at Euro 2024 in Germany are at serious risk and Santos is inevitably coming under fire.
In a two-part podcast, Barney and Albert are back for a comprehensive analysis of the summer transfer window from the point of view of Portugal’s 18 Primeira Liga clubs.
In Part One the incomings and outgoings at Portugal’s four major clubs are discussed. In Part Two the rest of the teams come under the microscope before the boys answer listener questions.
In line with Portugal’s qualifying campaign thus far, the Seleção got the job done without putting in an exuberant performance in Bratislava last night.
Coach Roberto Martínez and the players spoke as one after the match, emphasising the importance of getting the result while recognising Portugal could have played better.
Portugal took a big step towards qualifying for the 2024 European Championship after beating Slovakia 1-0 in Bratislava.
Lukás Haraslín hit the post in the 42nd minute and it proved to be the turning point with the hosts duly punished a minute later.
Bruno Fernandes scored the decisive goal on his 29th birthday, the playmaker racing into the box and beating Martin Dúbravka from a difficult angle.
The game opened up in the second half but Slovakia were unable to take their chances, the Seleção making it five straight wins without conceding under Roberto Martínez to go five points clear at the top of Group J.
PortuGOAL’s Matthew Marshall reports from Štadión Tehelné pole.
In episode 80 of the Seleção podcast, host Danny Pinto previews the upcoming Euro 2024 qualifying matches against Slovakia and Luxembourg.
Danny also reviews the 24-man roster selected by Roberto Martínez, Cristiano Ronaldo’s press conference, a busy summer transfer window for Seleção players, and gives a much deserved shoutout to Portugal’s women’s team after the excellent showing at their debut World Cup by “As Navegadoras”.
