It was quite a Champions League night for Portuguese football. Porto got their first points of the campaign with a hard-fought 2-0 victory over a Portuguese-heavy Olympiacos side at the Estádio do Dragão, thanks to a goal in each half from Fábio Vieira and Sérgio Oliveira.
Elsewhere, João Félix gave a performance to definitively dispel any lingering doubts about his otherworldly quality. The young Portugal forward was a whisker away from scoring a spectacular opener before going on to terrorise Salzburg. He scored a brace and he could have easily netted several more in a 3-2 win. Diogo Jota continued his dream start to life at Liverpool, scoring again in a 2-0 victory against Midtiylland at Anfield.
Porto 2-0 Olympiacos
The Greek champions and the Portuguese champions came head to head on a rainy night in Porto, serving up a closely fought encounter where Porto’s superior finishing proved the difference between the sides.
Olympiacos, coached by Pedro Martins, outnumbered Porto in the number of Portuguese players they deployed, four in total, but it was the local players for the home team who made the difference.
Much has been made of Porto not trusting in their academy products, but one of them, Fábio Vieira, seems intent on bucking the trend. The young midfielder made his mark when given the opportunity at the end of last season, and he has again won the trust of Sérgio Conceição in 2020/21.
Starting his third consecutive match, the 20-year-old opened the scoring in the 12th minute with a composed finish as Porto punished a crass mistake by Bouchalakis, who gave away possession cheaply on the edge of his own area.
Marega had the chance to double Porto’s lead but José Sá made a sharp save. The Greeks came back strongly with the excellent Mbemba producing a goal-line clearance to deny Valbuena an equaliser.
Olympiacos turned up the pressure in the second half, at times swamping Porto, with only some superb goalkeeping by Marchesín keeping the visitors at bay, before a series of substitutions by Conceição had the desired effect for Porto as they saw out the game relatively comfortably in the final 15 minutes.
Sérgio Oliveira crowned a man-of-the-match performance by heading in Porto’s second. The Dragons next play the double header against André Villas-Boas’s Marseille, who are yet to win a point after falling to a 3-0 home defeat to Manchester City tonight.
“I’m really happy to get my first Champions League goal, it was fantastic,” said Vieira post-match. “But what’s more important is the victory in what was an extremely tough match.”
Félix and Jota shine
João Félix put in what must surely be his best performance in an Atlético Madrid shirt. The former Benfica forward signalled his intent early on when he ran onto a ball over the top by ex-Porto midfielder Hector Herrera and acrobatically contorted his body and made a what appeared to be a perfect connection with a spectacular overhead kick. The ball capriciously crashed against the bar, and we were denied one of the great Champions League goals.
Undeterred, Félix continued to prove an authentic scourge to the Salzburg defence in Madrid. Playing with the devil in his body, Félix sent half a dozen shots and headers raining towards goal, and the only surprises as the game neared its end was that the Portuguese forward had only scored once, and Atlético were apparently heading for a 2-2 draw.
But Félix was not to be denied, pouncing on the ball ten yards out to rifle in the winner for the Spanish outfit, with Simeone celebrating effusively on the side-lines.
Another Portuguese forward who is making waves this season is Diogo Jota, and the former Paços de Ferreira, Porto and Wolves player continued his wonderful start to his career at Liverpool, scoring the opening goal in a 2-0 win over the Danes of Midtiylland.
"Achieving that landmark is always a good thing."
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) October 27, 2020
Diogo Jota reflects on scoring Liverpool's 10,000th goal ⚽️
🎙 @ReshminTV pic.twitter.com/l7H1JoIPYF
Fears that the Salah-Firmino-Mane trident would limit Jota’s chances at the EPL champions have happily proven unfounded to date, with Jota getting plenty of playing time, earning praise from Jürgen Klopp, and scoring goals at his new club.
By Tom Kundert
