Portuguese Football in English
In January 2021 Braga centre-back David Carmo was riding the crest of a wave. He was on the cusp of a lucrative €20 million transfer to Liverpool, only for Braga to pull the plug on the deal because they did not have enough time to bring in a replacement.
Three years down the line and Carmo’s potential career at the top is in doubt after his coach at FC Porto, Sérgio Conceição, relegated him to the B-team amid stinging words of criticism.
Sporting overcame their recent psychological block against their fiercest rivals (10 successive winless games against Porto and Benfica) to earn a thoroughly deserved 2-0 victory against the Dragons in Lisbon this evening.
Viktor Gyökeres scored a brilliant individual goal early on and the Swede was also instrumental in the second goal, laying on a perfect assist for Pedro Gonçalves on the hour mark. In between Porto captain Pepe was sent off.
The draw for the European competitions has taken place with Portugal’s sole representative in the Champions League given a tough obstacle in the round of 16.
FC Porto will lock horns with current English Premier League leaders Arsenal.
There was better luck for Portugal’s trio of teams in the Europa League playoffs.
Sporting, Benfica and Braga were drawn out successively, and were paired against Young Boys (Switzerland), Toulouse (France) and Qarabag (Azerbaijan) respectively.
Benfica climbed to the summit of the Primeira Liga after a hard fought 1-0 win in Braga.
The Eagles got off to a flying start at the Quarry after João Mário won possession, Orkun Kökçü releasing Casper Tengstedt who opened the scoring in the 3rd minute.
Ángel Di María hit the bar and Mário missed a great chance to double Benfica’s lead shortly after the break. The rest of the second half belonged to Braga but they couldn’t beat Anatolii Trubin.
The goalkeeper had already made a fantastic save to deny Álvaro Djaló in the first half, the Ukrainian called on again in added time when he managed to kick Simon Banza’s shot wide of the post.
Boavista’s first match following Petit’s resignation ended in a dramatic 1-1 draw against Vitória de Guimarães.
The visitors won a flurry of free kicks at Estádio do Bessa Séc. XXI and took advantage in the 30th minute, Tiago Silva’s set piece delivered to Jota Silva who steered the ball past João Gonçalves.
The Panthers dominated the second half and went close to equalising in the 74th minute when Bruno Varela denied Róbert Bozeník.
Boavista’s persistence finally paid off in added time when they won a penalty. Tiago Morais stepped up and converted with confidence, the result snapping the hosts five game losing streak in the Primeira Liga.
