Portugal 1-1 Serbia

Another match, another night of frustration and wondering what might have been for the Seleção. As against Ukraine, Portugal faced a resolute display of defensive toughness and organization that proved too difficult to break down. Dusan Tadic, one of the matches best players, converted a first half penalty, but Danilo popped up to score a belting goal from long range to draw the sides level.

Then Portugal were dealt another blow as Ronaldo was forced off with an unknown injury in the first half. Try though they might, the home side were obligated yet again to settle for a bitter draw in front of an expectant home crowd in Lisbon.    

  1.   4 Comment
  2.   344 Views
  Jerrold Hewson — I'm going to start off with something good. The mid-field were energetic and creative, they made plays and passes and kept ball control. There was some great control today from Bernardo and William. The worry-some, was in the final third. Why do we send blind crosses in, when our play making and mid......
  paul de'oliveira — Poland ref awards a pen to Portugal near the end of match lines man overturns it from the the other side. Santos Portugal manager along with the ref and line man after the match watch the replay of the pen together and ref apologies to Santos and says it was a pen. why no VAR in the qualifiers? wha......
  Bart Smulders — Congratulations to the squad and workethic in the dying minutes, nothing to complain about. For the rest of the game we can conclude that it all started with the unsettling and outrageous line-up. How the hell can you ever come up with such an formation and 2 CDM's in the same match. You need to bui......

Portugal 0-0 Ukraine

Cristiano Ronaldo made his return but Portugal were ineffective in the first game of the UEFA European Championship Qualifying stage.

The Seleção dominated the game but couldn’t find a way through the Ukrainian defence as the quest to defend the European Championship begins.

  1.   22 Comment
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  Sid — I think Rafa Silva looked good when he came on . He injected a bit of pace in the midfield which was a relief from the redundant technique of passing the ball sideways and crossing in first time expecting Ronaldo or adrien Silva to head in a goal . Hope he starts the game against Serbia. There is no......
  Miguel — We won the Euros with 3 group stage ties...not worried at all lol...
  Val — Portugal played lazy with no pace, creativity or aggression. So many good points already covered. Although i am not convinced the lineup was wrong. Bruno F would have helped but he was injured and William was doing a great job stealing balls and joining the attack. Just like many have mentioned,......

When English Championship outfit Reading found themselves deep in relegation trouble at the halfway point of this season, the club turned to a Portuguese duo to help their fight against the drop to the third tier.

José Gomes took charge of the club in late December, leaving Rio Ave to replaced sacked boss Paul Clement, and the Portuguese added countryman Nélson Oliveira when the January transfer window opened. The former Benfica man, who had been frozen out at Norwich City, joined The Royals on a six-month loan deal.

Nuno Espírito Santo’s Wolverhampton Wanderers are headed to Wembley as FA Cup semi-finalists after a convincing 2-1 victory over Manchester United on Saturday. Diogo Jota scored one of the goals for Wolves, who are joined in the last four by favourites Manchester City after Bernardo Silva ignited their comeback from 2-0 down at Swansea City.

Elsewhere, Marco Silva secured a huge victory for Everton with a 2-0 win over Chelsea, but there was less fortune for Paulo Sousa who was denied a debut win on the Bordeaux bench by a stoppage time goal. Vieirinha and Orlando Sá lead the goalscoring stories with a screamer and a decisive winner in Greece and Belgium respectively, while there were also goals for Portuguese in Bulgaria, Israel, Holland, Romania, Ukraine and the English Championship.

  1.   5 Comment
  2.   2518 Views
  Joao Rosario — It's a shame Rony Lopes and Ricardo Quaresma are not part of the side. I really hope Santos does not regret Quaresma's omission since the games against Ukraine and Serbia will be terribly tough. And Quaresma's x factor has taken us through on many occasions in the past. Remember just like Ronaldo, Q......
  Val — Danny, I understand that line of thinking as I often share it myself but the Euro win should have tempered this and taught many people not to crap on their own players as they often do extraordinary things (Eder). No other country (except Argentina) have 1 Ronaldo player on the pitch, let alone 1......
  Danny DaSilva — Val, I think the issue is that we've been good enough for a while now. We've been good enough to qualify for every tournament, good enough even to win the Euro! Yet experts still just see us as a nation punching above its weight. We're hungry for more. We want the same recognition that the plaudits ......

The final Liga NOS round before the international break leaves the division tantalisingly poised at both ends of the table going into the final straight of matches. The top 4 remained as is, the big quartet all registering victories, while the relegation battle tightened up as Chaves captialised on results around them.

One big mover was Vitória Guimarães, who leapfrogged Moreirense and moved into 5th place after a 3-1 defeat of Boavista. Their key man on the day, and PortuGOAL Figure of the Week, was Brazilian midfielder Mattheus Oliveira.

It’s ‘begin as you mean to go on’ for all four of the Primeira Liga’s top sides with wins across the board ahead of the final international break.

A sole goal from Raphinha was enough to turn Sporting’s home encounter versus Santa Clara into a 1-0 victory on Friday night, applying pressure on Sporting de Braga before their game against Vitória de Setúbal.

Abel Ferreira’s men replied to the Lions’ pursuit of third place with a 1-0 win, away from home, before being joined in triumph later on Saturday night by Porto in their 3-0 dissecting of Marítimo.

Benfica brought the action at the top to a close with 4-0 win away to high-flying Moreirense, this Sunday, leaving the Primeira Liga standings as you were for another week. PortuGOAL brings you all the action at the summit of the table.

We are back!!! In Episode 16 of the Seleção podcast, host Danny Pinto welcomes Eric Krakauer of BeIN Sports back to the show.

Danny and Eric discuss the Seleção's 25-man roster for the opening two matches of EURO 2020 qualifying, as well as Cristiano Ronaldo's epic hat-trick vs. Atletico Madrid in the Champions League. 

  1.   3 Comment
  2.   3354 Views
  Andrew/NY — Patricio Cancelo, Pepe, Dias, Guerrerio Bernardo, William, Moutinho Felix, Jota, CR7...
  Jerrold Hewson — Based on this podcast I have come up with a 3-4-1-2 model the back line is Dias Fonte Pepe the mid field is Raphael William Neves Cancelo attacking mid Bernardo striking Felix Ronaldo...
  jon/usa — Great podcast, guys! Some very interesting points were raised throughout. We've undoubtedly got the deepest talent pool in the history of the Seleccao. You can certainly argue that we've had stronger starting 11's over the years, but I honestly can't recall a time when we have had so many quality P......

Benfica and Porto learned of their European fates after the Champions League and Europa League draws took place in Nyon today.

Porto were handed a tough draw in the Champions League quarter-finals after they eliminated Roma in the round of 16. Sergio Conceição’s side will take on Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool in the quarter-finals once again.

It will be tough for Benfica too, who face Eintracht Frankfurt - and some familiar faces - after eliminating Dinamo Zagreb last night.

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  jon/usa — I was hoping Porto would get one of Ajax, Man United, or Tottenham. I'm sure they'll put up I fight, but defeating this Liverpool side over two legs is quite the ask. I think Benfica is fully capable of defeating Eintracht Frankfurt over two legs if Bruno Lage opts to go with his strongest 11. I wo......
  Jerrold Hewson — I'd be happy with a Porto Juventus final...

 Seleção coach Fernando Santos usually has a surprise of two when it comes to announcing the Portugal squad, and today was no different. Braga’s Brazilian born striker Dyego Sousa was given a debut call-up for the start of the Euro 2020 qualification campaign.

Benfica’s teenage star João Félix is another debutant, while Wolves forward Diogo Jota gets the nod and there are recalls for José Fonte and João Moutinho. 

  1.   7 Comment
  2.   3941 Views
  Danny DaSilva — Patricio. Moutinho. Bernardo. Ronaldo. Everyone else....
  Neville — Benfica centre-back Francisco Reis Ferreira is a good defender who should have been called by Selacao. At 21 he has the maturity operating at the heart of the backline. He looks to be an excellent tackler and has the ability to make well-timed interceptions in his own half. He has scored vital goals......
  Phil — My ideal line-up would be Cancelo....Dias...Ferro.....Rui Carvalho....Neves Bernardo Silva......Félix......Rafa Ronaldo...

Benfica will be in Friday’s Europa League draw after beating Dinamo Zagreb 3-0 in Lisbon to reach the last eight thanks to fine goals from well-struck shots by Jonas, Ferro and Grimaldo. It was also a great night for former Benfica favourite Gonçalo Guedes, who struck a dramatic late goal to earn Valencia a place in the last eight of the competition.

In terms of other Portuguese involvement, it was a disappointing night for Daniel Carriço and André Silva as 5-time Europa League winners Sevilla crashed out in Prague, while Gonçalo Paciência’s Frankfurt eliminated Cédric Soares’ Inter and Napoli, with Mário Rui, went through at the expense of Salzburg.

  1.   1 Comment
  2.   1573 Views
  Mike — 3 great goals by Benfica, but man they rode their luck. Zagreb lost because they missed some easy tap ins. Benfica won't get away with that against better opposition. Happy to see Guedes fit again and scoring important goals. We need all our players firing on all cylinders for the Nation's League.......

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

“The plan was to create a system to help Bernardo cut inside. The problem is we don't play by ourselves and Ukraine packed the midfield to counter this.”

Fernando Santos
(Portugal coach after 0-0 draw at home to Ukraine)
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