Portuguese Football in English
Gonçalo Paciência marked his first Bundesliga start with a goal as Frankfurt warmed up for Thursday’s Europa League showdown with Inter with a 3-0 win at Fortuna Dusseldorf on Monday night.
For the Portuguese striker it was a second goal in three appearances as Paciência finally begins to make his mark in Germany after a serious injury. Meanwhile, Flávio Paixão scored an even more crucial goal in Poland in Lechia Gdansk’s Ekstraklasa title challenge.
Gonçalo Guedes scored his first goal of the season for Valencia on Sunday as Los Ches warmed up for their upcoming Europa League trip to Russia with an impressive 3-2 victory at Girona. Guedes was making just the eighth league start of an injury-hit season, but gave Valencia the lead in Catalonia.
Elsewhere, Nuno Espírito Santo’s Wolverhampton Wanderers once again took points on the road against the Premier League’s big boys, earning a 1-1 draw at Chelsea. There was also a big win for Jose Gomes and Reading in the Championship, while on the goals front Sérgio Oliveira, Daniel Podence, João Carvalho, Daniel Candeias and João Amaral were on the scoresheet.
Portuguese coach Paulo Sousa has been officially announced as new boss of French side Girondins de Bordeaux, signing a 4-year contract with the Ligue 1 club on Friday.
The well-travelled manager had been out of work since leaving Chinese club Tianjin Quanjian in November. Sousa replaces former Benfica defender Ricardo Gomes, who was sacked towards the end of last month, and becomes Bordeaux’s third coach of the season with Gus Poyet having left the club just after the start of the campaign.
Gonçalo Paciência was roundly praised by his manager and teammates after the Portuguese forward scored his first goal for Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday in Germany. The former Porto man came off the bench to snatch a stoppage-time winner as Frankfurt beat Hoffenheim 3-2 in a thrilling match in the Bundesliga.
Elsewhere, Diogo Jota was the star man with a goal and assist in Wolverhampton Wanderers’ 2-0 win over Cardiff City in England, while Marco Silva’s Everton held fierce rivals Liverpool in the Merseyside derby. On the goals front, Iuri Medeiros struck for the first time in Poland for Ricardo Sá Pinto’s Legia Warsaw, while Bruno Alves scored at both ends in Parma’s 3-3 draw at Empoli in Serie A.
Miguel Cardoso has been relieved of his duties as coach of Spanish side Celta de Vigo after less than four months at the club, following a 1-0 defeat Eibar at the weekend which has left the team in serious danger of relegation from La Liga.
Former Rio Ave boss Cardoso was hired by Celta in November, just a month after he was dismissed by French club Nantes after an even shorter spell in charge. During his time in Spain, Cardoso’s Celta won just three and lost ten of their 15 matches under the Portuguese, with the most recent coming with an 87th-minute goal conceded at Eibar on Sunday.
