Portuguese Football in English
There was a Portuguese goalscorer on each side on Saturday afternoon in the Premier League, as Everton and Manchester United shared the spoils in an entertaining 2-2 draw.
Everton eased into the break two goals up against Rúben Amorim’s woeful United, with Beto opening the scoring at Goodison Park. However, United improved after the break and Bruno Fernandes’ free-kick sparked a comeback, which ultimately saw former Sporting midfielder Manuel Ugarte snatch a point for the Red Devils.
AC Milan 1-1 Feyenoord (aggregate: 1-2)
Sérgio Conceição suffered a major setback on Tuesday evening, as his AC Milan side were knocked out of the Champions League play-offs by underdogs Feyenoord at San Siro.
Having come into the second leg with a 1-0 deficit from last week’s defeat in Rotterdam, Conceição’s side got off to the perfect start in the return leg when Santiago Giménez struck in the first minute. However, a lamentable red card for French star defender Theo Hernandez changed the tie.
Chico Conceição scored one of the most important goals of his young career this far on Sunday night, with the former Porto winger settling the Derby d’Italia between Juventus and Inter in Turin. In England, Beto continues to prove a transformed player under new Everton boss David Moyes, getting the opener in their 2-1 win at Crystal Palace.
Elsewhere, Tiago Tomás added to his personal best tally for the season by scoring in Wolfsburg’s victory at Stuttgart in Germany, while there were also goals for Jota in Scotland, Gelson Martins and Chiquinho with Olympiacos in Greece and Rafa Silva in Turkiye, as well as plenty of others across the continent.
AC Milan 1-0 Verona
Italian giants AC Milan are back to winning ways after their midweek Champions League defeat, with a late goal from new signing Santiago Giménez enough to see of Verona at San Siro.
Milan boss Sérgio Conceição dropped star man Rafael Leão to the bench for the match, but the Portuguese emerged for the second half and was crucial in instigating Giménez’s winner.
Over the past quarter-century, we’ve seen quite a few Portuguese footballers grace the football pitches of Serie A. Rafael Leão helped Milan return to the promised land after an 11-year title drought, Rui Costa struck up a phenomenal partnership in Fiorentina’s attack alongside Gabriel Batistuta, Beto emerged as Udinese’s attacking talisman before heading to Everton, whilst Bruno Fernandes cut his teeth at Udinese and Sampdoria before enjoying superstardom at Sporting and Manchester United.
Today, there are currently 12 Portuguese footballers who are plying their trade in Italy’s top-flight, making it the eighth-most represented foreign nationality after France (39), Spain (26), Argentina (25), Netherlands (14), Brazil (14), Denmark (13) and Croatia (13). But for all the foreign footballers who are showcasing their skills in Italy, foreign coaches don’t quite have the same ubiquitousness. Out of the 20 teams in Serie A, only four have foreign managers.
In contrast to the Premier League, who haven’t had an English manager win the top-flight since Howard Wilkinson led Leeds to glory in 1991/92 (back when it was still called the First Division), Italian coaches dominate Serie A. In fact, since the start of the 2000/01 campaign, only one non-Italian manager has lifted the Scudetto: José Mourinho.
Today, we’re taking a look at the Portuguese managers that have coached in Serie A.
