Portugal have four teams in the Europa League – more than any other nation – as the competition resumes this Thursday. While some are dreaming of a repeat of 2010/11 season, when three of the four semi-finalists were Portuguese, leading to an all-Portuguese final, there is also a realistic possibility that the Liga NOS representation could be severely cut in this round.

All four ties are evenly balanced of paper. The early kickoffs see the two Lisbon teams in action as Sporting host Turkish outfit Istanbul Basaksehir while Benfica travel to Ukraine to take on runaway league leaders, Shakhtar Donetsk. Later on, Portugal’s northern representatives take centre stage, with Porto and Braga both on the road, at Bayer Leverkusen and Rangers respectively. 

It may have gone under the radar, but this January, just like that, the deal was done. With a four-and-a-half-year contract signed at Benfica, the future career of Colombian winger Yony González looks set. Or is it?

Immediately after signing for the Portuguese champions, González signed another contract with Brazilian giants Corinthians on a one-year loan. Could the player be split as to where he wants to play his football? In this article, we will be looking into what we know so far about this very modern-day style of transfer. 

A dramatic weekend of action in Liga NOS saw a seismic shift in the league title race as Benfica’s previous seven point lead at the top was reduced to just one as Braga upset the champions at Estádio da Luz.

Porto took advantage of the loss to close the gap in beating Vitória Guimarães in a hard-fought encounter. The match was regrettably overshadowed by deplorable abuse in the direction of Moussa Marega, who had earlier turned the tide in his team’s favour on the pitch with yet another invaluable contribution for the Dragões.

For this edition of the PortuGOAL Figure of the Week we focus on Marega the player, and the sort of brilliance he showed that he is capable of on Sunday evening.

Domestic results in Portugal’s top division this weekend opened up the prospect of an exciting and closely-fought title race until the end of the season. Unfortunately, none of the headlines will be about that. A disgraceful incident took place in the Vitória Guimarães versus FC Porto match that leaves an ugly stain on the beautiful game in the country.

Porto striker Moussa Marega, who scored what turned out to be the winning goal, was the subject of racist abuse from the home supporters and refused to play on. As he stormed off the pitch, his Porto teammates and coach Sérgio Conceição, as well as the Vitória players, tried to persuade him to change his mind. Marega was resolute in his decision, however, and ended up being substituted. Tom Kundert reports and brings ongoing reaction.