Portuguese Football in English
Moreirense continued their fine start to the season under new coach César Peixoto.
A shot by Lawrence Ofori in the 85th minute that deflected past Benfica goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin seemed to have given the hosts all three points.
However, a penalty deep in injury time converted by Marcos Leonardo fixed the final result in a 1-1 draw, but the pressure will intensify on Benfica coach Roger Schmidt after another poor performance. Tom Kundert reports.
If the start of the Primeira Liga season wasn’t exciting enough, we’ve only had to wait until Jornada 4 before our first big clássico. It’s first place versus second as reigning champions Sporting host a Porto team who’ve won every competitive game so far under their new manager Vítor Bruno.
Albert Carter-Phillips brings you PortuGOAL’s preview of the big clash on Saturday night and the rest of the top weekend action in Portugal’s top flight.
Braga earned a 2-2 draw against Rapid Vienna in the Europa League play-off second leg to win 4-3 on aggregate and qualify for the league phase.
The Austrian club took the lead in the 7th minute through Bright Arrey-Mbi's own goal. Arrey-Mbi was in the action again in the 47th minute, a failed clearance resulting in Isak Jansson making it 2-0.
Gabri Martínez instigated two quick fire goals for the Warriors, the first coming in the 68th minute when the Spanish won a penalty that was converted by Amine El Ouazzani.
Martínez burst into the box two minutes later and teed up Ricardo Horta who put Braga back into the driver’s seat.
Carlos Carvalhal's side closed it out to join Porto in the Europa League league phase, five Portuguese clubs to compete in UEFA competitions this season.
At the fourth time of asking a Portuguese club has finally made it through the UEFA Conference League qualifying stages and will take part in the competition proper.
Vitória became the first Liga Portugal club to qualify for UEFA’s third-tier competition and did so in style, beating Zrinjski Mostar 4-0 in Bosnia-Herzegovina to complete a 7-0 aggregate victory.
Rui Borges’ men have also achieved the notable feat of winning all six of their qualifying/playoff matches in this season’s competition.
Sporting have completed the signing of Uruguayan international Maximiliano Araújo, paying a fee of close to €15 million for the 24-year-old who signs a five-year contract at Alvalade, with a buyout clause of €80m.
The attacking left-back increases Sporting’s options in a position where adaptions have had to be made following the early-season absence of first-choice left-back Nuno Santos. Santos made his return from injury on Friday against Farense and will now battle it out with Araújo for the starting berth.
