First-half goals from Jeremiah St. Juste and Marcus Edwards gave a much-improved Sporting victory against Estoril Praia at the Estádio António Coimbra da Mota tonight.

The three points relieve the pressure on the Lions after a poor start to the season and will boost confidence ahead of their Champions League campaign that begins on Wednesday in Germany against Eintracht Frankfurt. 

Benfica overcame a 1-0 deficit to beat Vizela 2-1 at Estádio da Luz. The visitors took a surprise lead in the 20th minute when Milutin Osmajic raced clear and beat Vlachodimos at his near post.

David Neres equalised in the 76th minute before a bizarre period of added time, Gonçalo Ramos was sent off when he could have been awarded a penalty.

Referee Fábio Veríssimo made another bad decision in the final seconds of the game, presenting the Eagles with a dubious spot kick that João Mário dispatched with confidence.

It was the ninth straight win for Roger Schmidt’s side who temporarily go five points clear at the top of the Primeira Liga.

• Boavista
• Benfica
• Maritimo
• Primeira Liga,
• Sporting,
• FC Porto,
• Sporting de Braga,
• Vitória de Guimarães,
• Portimonense
• Chaves
• Julian Weigl
• Jan Vertonghen
• Deadline Day
• Adalberto Peñaranda
• Arthur Gomes
• Adel Taarabt
• Jordan Brooks
• Sotiris Alexandropoulos
• Julian Draxler
• Samuel Portugal
• Uros Racic
• Serdar Saatci

On the year the Primeira Liga led the way as the most profitable division in the world, following the sales of Benfica’s Darwin Nuñez, Sporting star Matheus Nunes and FC Porto duo Vitinha and Fábio Vieira, fans of the much-adored clubs were forced to hold on tight to their hats ahead of any potential last-minute exits.

Thankfully to all affected, the sharks were long gone, leaving the protagonists in peace in their bid to add the finishing touches to their squads. 

As many sides took the chance to take a final dip into the market, here’s how the list of new arrivals shaped up en route to the closure of the summer transfer window.

The Makouta name is well-known in Congo but not just because of Gaius Makouta. His grandfather was Jean-Pierre Majouta-Mboukou a Congolese politician and a famous writer and researcher in linguistics. His political and teaching career led him and his family to France which is where Gaius was born in 1997 in Beaumont-Sur-Oise just north of Paris.

Paul Pogba once said “there is only football in Paris” and this culture bled out into Beaumont-Sur-Oise and sucked Makouta in. Perhaps Makouta’s family would have had high hopes for Gaius to emulate his grandad politically or academically. Little did they know he too would make himself a big name in Congo in a very different walk of life.