After an extended break due to internationals and continuation of this season’s Taça de Portugal, Liga Bwin returned to action at the weekend amid a busy period of matches for the majority of the country’s top flight teams.
Minho sides Braga and Vitória Guimarães continued some recent momentum with wins over Gil Vicente and Marítimo respectively, while Santa Clara and Belenenses SAD, both under new management, saw struggles continue as the pair drifted into the bottom two of the division.
The title race remains close as ever as Benfica bounced back from a shock loss in the previous gameweek, leaving it very late to overcome Vizela. Sporting stayed in touch with a narrow victory of their own.
Porto too remained well in the hunt thanks to a stunning individual performance from their number nine. This edition of the PortuGOAL Figure of the Week was a very easy choice, as Mehdi Taremi’s predatory hat-trick blew away Tondela.
Iranian international striker Mehdi Taremi has been one of the best forwards in Portugal for the past couple of years, making an instant impact upon his arrival in the country back in 2019 when he signed for Rio Ave from Qatari side Al-Gharafa. As is often the case, his impressive form at that kind of level was quickly noticed as the sharks circled, and Porto beat out their rivals to bring the 29 year old to Estádio do Dragão just one year later.
After a gradual start under Sérgio Conceição, Taremi managed to impose himself as the number one forward at the club and this is a fact that has not changed to the current day, transitioning to a higher level of football effectively and boosting his own career experience in the Champions League. Tall, strong and quick, the Iranian has proved a player in the manager’s preferred ideas in that he can adapt his game to the many matches in which Porto dominate the ball, or when playing in behind defences on the counter is more suitable. Indeed on the latter point, Taremi has proved highly effective at “winning” fouls from the opposition in those moments in which plays on the last shoulder of the defence.
For Saturday’s contest at Tondela, Taremi was paired up top with a slightly more unfamiliar strike partner in Brazilian Evanilson, who has only quite recently come into what has been a rare run of starts in his Porto career. The duo are becoming an effective foil for one another though despite their comparative lack of playing time together, and after an early setback with a Neto Borges goal putting the hosts in front Porto hit back in the 19th minute. The strikers caused havoc in the penalty area as Evanilson’s initial shot from João Mário’s cutback was blocked, the ball then falling into Taremi’s path to slot into the near vacant net for 1-1.
Taremi’s aforementioned ability to draw mistakes from the opposition then turned the game on its head completely just a few minutes later. Sloppy defending from Tondela saw Taremi latch onto a weak pass at the back, and Spanish midfielder Iker Undabarrena felled the Iranian striker when through on goal, resulting in a straight red card.
It was inevitable that Porto would take a stranglehold on the game thereafter and just before the break they made their man advantage count to take the lead. Once again Taremi’s predatory instincts and anticipation in front of goal were to thank, the striker prodding home from close range after Pedro Trigueira had spilled Matheus Uribe’s direct free kick effort.
Porto dominated the second period as expected, but had to wait until the 79th minute to make the game truly safe. Substitute Fábio Vieira added to his burgeoning assist tally, sliding a through ball to Taremi who wrapped up his hat-trick, impressively flicking a finish with the outside of his unfavoured left foot past Trigueira’s despairing dive
A superbly taken goal to round off a memorable moment in the 29 year old’s career, and he could have even added to his personal tally had his team-mates picked out some more of the intelligent runs and movement he displayed throughout the match.
Taremi earned criticism for his profligacy in the midweek Champions League encounter with AC Milan that preceded the Tondela clash but has been quick to put his personal misses behind him with a reminder of how capable he can be for Porto. His trio of goals also suddenly jumps him to the top of the domestic scoring charts with seven Liga Bwin strikes for the campaign, and on current form he looks a decent bet to remain there come May.
By Jamie Farr
