Another weekend of Portuguese Primeira Liga action saw a considerable shift in the title race as defending champions fell to another surprising defeat, allowing rivals Porto to open up a six point gap at the summit.
Vitória Guimarães arrested some poor form to move into the top six, while Santa Clara’s recent revival continued by overcoming Moreirense.
Another team to reverse some slumping form was Vizela, who contested the match of the round in a thrilling win against Tondela. Brazilian striker Cassiano supplied the firepower and late drama on the night, and is in focus as our PortuGOAL Figure of the Week.
At the age of 32, Cassiano Dias Moreira’s career path somewhat resembles that of a journeyman having featured for nearly ten clubs in his native Brazil as well as stints with clubs as far flung as ones in Cyprus, Kazakhstan, China and South Korea. He was first known to Portuguese audiences when he signed for Boavista in 2019, flitting in and out of the team there before dropping to the 2nd tier to sign with Vizela a year later.
Cassiano turned out to be a fantastic signing for Vizela as he spearheaded their superb 2020/21 season to secure a shock promotion to Primeira Liga by finishing second behind eventual champions Estoril. The Brazilian striker was a key part of the campaign, scoring 17 goals to finish as the leading marksman in the division.
Back in the top flight for a second bite at the cherry, goals have been a little harder for Cassiano to come by, largely in part due to a number of injury issues this season that have halted his progress. His absence has been significant, Vizela failing to win any of the six matches he was ruled out of completely.
One other issue has been the competition with fellow striker Guilherme Schettine, with whom Vizela manager Álvaro Pacheco has recently been experimenting to try and play the pair together rather sidelining one or the other, moving Cassiano out to the right flank, a position that despite his bulky, muscular frame the Brazilian has proven quite adept in functioning in the past.
Sunday evening’s trip to Estádio João Cardoso to face Tondela saw Pacheco try the aforementioned setup by stationing Cassiano in right wing as part of the coach’s favoured 4-3-3 setup. Vizela fell behind early on to a Salvador Agra goal but found themselves level in the 16th minute thanks to Cassiano’s poacher instinct. The striker showed fine movement in the box to peel away from his marker at the near post and superbly glance home Richard Ofori’s cross from the left flank.
A stunning header that left Tondela goalkeeper Pedro Trigueira no chance, a fast start to the match setting the tone for a pulsating encounter.
Tondela re-took the lead through a João Pedro penalty but there was still time in the half for Vizela to almost level once more, Cassiano again the scourge of the home side’s defence but this time Trigueira was equal to the Brazilian’s effort.
The game just got better in the second half as Vizela’s Raphael Guzzo struck against his old team to make it 2-2 with eighteen minutes remaining. Not long after that Cassiano nearly claimed another goal in bizarre fashion as substitute Nuno Moreira’s shot deflected off the unaware number nine and agonisingly grazed the post.
Vizela continued to press for a winner and got their reward with just three minutes of normal time to play with Cassiano delivering the decisive blow, tapping home for his second of the match to round off a fantastic team move.
Vizela clung on and survived some VAR drama to clinch a huge three points in the Liga Bwin relegation battle.
Cassiano may be on the approach of the latter stages of his career but his clinical performance this weekend shows he still has a big part to play at this kind of level. If he can put his injury problems behind him and show the kind of lethality Tondela suffered from on a more consistent basis Vizela might upset the odds and stick around for another year dining at Portugal’s top table.
By Jamie Farr
