Portuguese Football in English
Ricardo Pereira scored his first goal of the season to help Leicester City to victory over Tottenham Hotspur in the early kick-off, before Bernardo Silva took centre stage with a hat-trick as Manchester City crushed Watford 8-0.
Elsewhere in England on Saturday, it was a less happy afternoon for managers Marco Silva and José Gomes with Everton and Reading losing in the Premier League and Championship respectively.
Portugal was represented by four managers when the last-16 of the Asian Champions League began this summer but as the semi-final line-up was finalised this week, all four representatives have suffered elimination earlier than hoped.
Quarter-final exits for Vítor Pereira and Rui Vitória saw them join José Morais and Rui Faria in missing out on a place at the business end of Asia’s premier club competition. And for both Pereira and Vitória, there was plenty of regret about the nature of their failure to reach the final four.
Renato Sanches took charge of his future this summer. Bayern Munich’s 2-2 draw with Hertha Berlin on the Bundesliga opening day in mid-August provided enough evidence for the Portuguese to decide he should no longer submit to the will of the champions and endure another season of uncertainty in Germany.
Bayern’s failure to beat Hertha at home was a surprise to many, but there was little out of character about coach Niko Kovac issuing Sanches a five-minute cameo as the match drew to a close. The token appearance had become an all to familiar gesture for the former Benfica midfielder and this time Sanches decided a change was needed.
In one of the most thrilling games of the weekend across Europe, Sunday evening saw André Villas-Boas’ Marseille stage a sensational comeback from 2-0 down to win 4-3 at Leonardo Jardim’s Monaco in France. The result has deep impacts on both Portuguese coaches, with Villas-Boas encouraged as his side move into the top 4 positions while Jardim is forced to answer questions about Deja-vu.
Another prominent Portuguese coach continues to make the headlines in Brazil after Jorge Jesus and Flamengo extended their lead at the top of the Brazilian league with victory over nearest rivals Santos. Meanwhile on the player front, Gonçalo Paciência and Raphaël Guerreiro were on target in Germany, while Nani’s sensational brace lit up the United States’ MLS and William Carvalho was sent off in Spain.
Ricardo Quaresma has opened up about his acrimonious exit from Turkish outfit Besiktas, having spent six seasons with the Istanbul side.
In a heartfelt interview, the veteran Portuguese winger spoke about being forced out of the club having seen a deterioration in his relationship with president Fikret Orman.
