Portuguese Football in English
Week 15 in Liga NOS saw reasons to cheer for the underdogs as Estoril finally ended a poor run with a win over Aves and Moreirense upset Vitória Guimarães on Monday. Elsewhere the top 4 remains unchanged as Porto, Benfica, Braga and Sporting all racked up fairly routine wins.
The latter’s victory was an entertaining encounter at the Estádio José Alvalade, the home side running out 2-0 winners in no small part due to a sparkling performance from Daniel Podence, PortuGOAL’s Figure of the Week.
Matchday 15 had plenty of clubs and fans alike wishing for a merry and tranquil Christmas, as the Primeira Liga headed into its final week of the calendar year.
For Jorge Jesus, the wishlist was long, yet refreshingly clear - "three or four new players" to help fuel Sporting through the busy months of January and February, as they thickened the pressure on FC Porto in the league with a 2-0 win at home to Portimonense.
A mere win, for the time being at least, was all cross-city rivals Benfica required in their bid to steady their rocky campaign, duly achieved in emphatic fashion with a 5-1 demolition-job over Tondela at the Estádio João Cardoso.
Porto, not to be left behind in a strong first lap of the season, would also get the job done efficiently versus Marítimo by claiming a 3-1 victory in front of their home crowd, enabling the Dragons to end the year as the official leader of the Liga NOS table. Follow the weekend's action here, brought to you, as always, by PortuGOAL.
It was largely business as usual in Liga NOS in Week 14 as “The Big Three” all recorded pretty routine wins meaning it is as you were at the top of the table. Porto remain the leaders after thumping Vitoria Setubal 5-0, while Benfica and Sporting both recorded 3-1 victories against Estoril and Boavista respectively.
Some impressive individual performances featured in all three matches, however PortuGOAL’s Figure of the Week is Rio Ave’s João Novais, the super sub who climbed off the bench to score twice in his team’s comeback victory over Moreirense on Friday night.
Following the final chapter for two of Portugal's 'Big Three' in the UEFA Champions League, it was all hands to the pump for the likes of Benfica and Sporting in the Primeira Liga, as FC Porto looked to deflect the pressure from their closest rivals at the top of the table.
Benfica were able to respond to another miserable result versus FC Basel by defeating Estoril 3-1 at home, with Sporting replicating the Eagles' result away from home against Boavista to move Jorge Jesus' men up to first place, albeit momentarily.
Such results would mean Porto could afford to turn in a win and nothing else if they were to return to the pinnacle of the Liga NOS table, obliging with a huge 5-0 victory over Vitória de Setúbal at the iconic Estádio do Bonfim. PortuGOAL followed this weekend's action:
Paulo Fonseca’s reputation soars; Benfica embarrassed; another Ronaldo record
FC Porto confidently strode into the last 16 of the Champions League with a 5-2 hammering of Monaco at the Estádio do Dragão last night. As has often been the case this season, striker Vincent Aboubakar was the catalyst behind an impressive display.
Elsewhere, Paulo Fonseca closed out a sensational group phase by his Shakhtar Donetsk team by becoming the first coach to get the better of Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City side this season, winning 2-1 in Ukraine. Fonseca had said that should his team qualify for the knockout stage he would give his post-match press conference dressed in a Zorro outfit… and was as good as his word!
Cristiano Ronaldo may be struggling for form domestically, but in the Champions League he is unstoppable, scoring a brilliant goal against Dortmund to set a new record as the only player to hit the net in each of the six group games.
