Official: Flamengo delighted as "great leader" Jorge Jesus signs new contract

Jorge Jesus has finally ended speculation over his future by extending his contract with South American champions Flamengo by a year until 2021.

The veteran Portuguese was nearing the end of the 12-month deal he signed last year, after which he made history by leading Flamengo to five major titles. Jesus’ achievements – particularly in winning the Copa Libertadores – has made him a huge favourite among the Rubro-negra supporters who eagerly awaited his commitment to further success.

Santa Clara stun Braga and take Sporting a point closer to third

Sporting de Braga have missed the opportunity to open up a six-point-gap between them and fourth-placed Sporting after going a man down and losing 3-2 to Santa Clara late on in their lockdown comeback.

In action the night before, the Lions led twice against Vitoria de Guimarães before being pegged back by the home side and drawing 2-2 at the Estádio Dom Afonso Henriques.

The share of the spoils in Guimarães enabled Braga the chance to steer clear of Sporting with a potential win away to Santa Clara, but Custódio’s men also failed to hold onto their lead on two occasions to eventually lose at the Cidade do Futebol, seeing their four-point-advantage in third shrink to three.

Attack on Benfica bus leaves two players requiring treatment in marred return to action

Benfica’s team bus has been the subject of a late-night attack after their 0-0 draw at home to Tondela on Thursday evening, leaving both Julian Weigl and Andrija Zivkovic requiring treatment in their return to Seixal, the Eagles’ training camp.

The title holders, who sought to overtake FC Porto at the top of the table after the Dragons’ loss to FC Famalicão on Wednesday night, failed to go beyond a 0-0 draw at home to Tondela in their first game since the Coronavirus pandemic shutdown, keeping them level with the league leaders on points, but ultimately behind on head-to-head results.

Benfica miss chance to go top after shock FC Porto loss to Famalicão

Benfica missed the opportunity to leapfrog FC Porto at the top of the Primeira Liga following the latter’s 2-1 loss away to FC Famalicão, as Tondela helped themselves to a crucial 0-0 draw at the Estádio da Luz.

After almost three months away from action, the Dragons welcomed back the race for the title with a clash against Famalicão, offering Benfica the chance to overtake the ‘Blue & Whites’ after João Pedro Sousa’s side’s shock win.

With just a point between Porto and the Eagles, a draw for Bruno Lage’s men at home was only enough to see them go level with their rivals on points, being kept in second place behind the northern outfit on head-to-head results.

GERMANY: André Silva scores crucial opener in Frankfurt win [video]

Portuguese striker André Silva scored for the third consecutive match to help Eintracht Frankfurt to a 3-0 win at Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga on Wednesday.

Silva’s header on the hour mark broke the deadlock to put Frankfurt 1-0 up and Stefan Ilsanker’s brace secured the points for the visitors. The goal was Silva’s fourth in his last five matches and means the former Porto man has nine goals from 14 appearances since the start of February.

Angelo — Too bad these goals aren't coming during the Euro....

The potential effects of post-lockdown football awaiting Primeira Liga clubs

After months of extensive talks and cautious planning, fans of the Portuguese Primeira Liga can finally begin to countdown the hours ahead of its anticipated return, tomorrow night, registering its comeback with Gil Vicente’s away fixture versus Portimonense and FC Porto's renewed bid for the title away to FC Famalicão.

Taking a positive step towards normality, the football itself, after more than two months away and an enforced behind-closed-doors scenario, promises to be anything but your typical conclusion to a season.

As many Bundesliga clubs are beginning to find out, PortuGOAL explores the challenges and scenarios awaiting Liga NOS clubs once the ball finds its way back to the centre circle.

Portugal’s Euro 2020 “what if” squad

It would have been this past weekend. In an alternate universe in which COVID-19 was merely the stuff of nightmares rather than the very real plague on our existence it has become, Fernando Santos would have announced the 23-man squad set to defend the European Championship.

As it is, Portugal internationals will have another year of football to make the grade, but who would have made the Fernando Santos cut if – you know – the calamitous events of 2020 had never transpired?

Seleção expert Nathan Motz discusses the squad that might have been….the squad that in fact, will never be.

John — While Santos would never go for it, i wonder how Portugal would fare if a back 3 formation was used. The advantages (at least on paper) would be: 1. 3 CB’s would offer greater cover at the back and mitigate our current deficiency in a starting caliber CB outside of Dias. Further, maybe William ......

Irfan Habib — Ronaldo is old but play better than young guys. Support Portugal from Pakistan...

Dave, UK — I largely agree with these selections. The Anthony Lopes situation is unusual as I believe he hasn't actually retired from international football, and I'm not really sure why but hasn't been called much these past few years. I would have him as second choice though, as he is comfortably the second b......

POLAND: “I don’t remember a half like that, it was crazy” – hat-trick hero Paixão reflects on derby victory

The Polish Ekstraklasa kicked off again this weekend after a 12-week absence and Portuguese striker Flávio Paixão was the star of the show with a hat-trick as Lechia Gdansk beat neighbours Arka Gdynia 4-3 on Sunday.

All seven goals came in the final 40 minutes, after a stalemate in the first half. Paixão put his team 1-0 up from the penalty spot (50’) before later equalising the game at 2-2 on 76 minutes. Further goals for each side had the game level at 3-3 deep into injury time, when the veteran from Portugal again held his nerve to convert a winning 96^th-minute penalty.

Luís Figo: a Portuguese legend in the great 2002 Real Madrid team

You can build a convincing argument that Real Madrid is the best club side in the world, having won the European Cup and Champions League a record 13 times; six times more than the next most successful club, Milan.

Their achievements in 2002 (the side would go on to win La Liga in the 2002-2003 season), however, hold a special place in the hearts of their fans. Champions League winners under managerial genius Vicente del Bosque, who would later take Spain to World and European Championship glory, this team was still packed with home-grown players – six of the team that started the UCL final against Bayer Leverkusen were of Spanish nationality.

It was just before what was to become known as Real’s “galactico” era. Instead of simply going out and buying the most high-profile player for practically every position, in 2002 the team included a few choice foreign superstars, notably French midfield maestro Zinedine Zidane, Brazilian left-back Roberto Carlos and a certain Portuguese wing wizard. One of the key players in the side was the legend, Luís Figo.

Dave, UK — Figo surely won Serie A too ...

Portugal veteran João Pereira signs new Trabzonspor deal: “I didn’t think I’d stay this long”

João Pereira has extended his contract with Trabzonspor, the Turkish club announced at a press conference on Saturday. The right-back has put pen to paper on a new one-year deal until 2021.

The 36-year-old joined Trabzonspor in January 2017 from Valencia and has enjoyed a highly successful three years on Turkey’s north-eastern coast. The team currently top the Super Lig on goal difference after 26 rounds of action, meaning a potential first title since the year of Pereira’s birth: 1984.