As we round up the remaining stories involving Portuguese across the footballing world, there was another victory in Serie A for Paulo Fonseca with Roma making it three victories in a row in all competitions and an unbeaten start to life in the Italian capital.
Meanwhile in France, Portugal’s coaching trio in Ligue 1 all secured draws and Renato Sanches and Mathias Lage featured for their clubs, while a shock defeat for Barcelona in Spain has seen Nélson Semedo come under fire.
Paulo Fonseca’s latest win with Italian side Roma was perhaps his most satisfying as Edin Dzeko’s late goal gave the team from the capital a 2-1 victory at Bologna despite a numerical disadvantage. The sides were level at 1-1 when Roma’s Gianluca Mancini was sent off five minutes from time, but it was Fonseca’s visitors who snatched all three points when Dzeko converted Lorenzo Pellegrini’s cross.
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Fonseca: “We showed courage”
“We played well and I thought dominated throughout the match,” Fonseca told reporters after the match. “It’s true that in the second half Bologna pushed on the counter-attack and created scoring opportunities, but we deserved the victory for our character, unity and courage.”
“[The red card] was difficult for the players, considering we played on Thursday with Istanbul Basaksehir, but we are in good shape physically.
Fonseca’s men have ten goals from their four Serie A matches, as well as winning their Europa League match with Basaksehir 4-0 last week. “We know that our playing style involves running some risks, but that is what we have decided, that is our approach and we’re not going to change it,” Fonseca said.
“I have adapted slightly and I think this version is more realistic in Serie A, but we always want to go for the win. I think everyone in the side is happy with the way we are playing, so they are enthusiastic and motivated.”
SPAIN: Portuguese duo Silva, Duarte help Granada to Barca upset as Semedo targeted in backlash
Newly-promoted Granada briefly went top of La Liga this weekend after causing an upset by beating Barcelona 2-0 on Saturday afternoon. An early goal through Ramon Azeez and a second-half penalty from Alvaro Vadillo gave the Andalusians the three points and made it three wins from their opening five matches in Spain.
It represents the best top flight start in the club’s history and Portuguese duo Rui Silva and Domingos Duarte have been key figures in the team. Former Sporting defender Duarte has recently spoken of his aims to make the Seleção squad in the near future, while goalkeeper Rui Silva has earned particular praise for recent performances and made second-half saves to deny Anssumane Fati and Lionel Messi on Saturday.
Nélson Semedo played at right-back for Barca but press reaction has been far less positive with regards to the former Benfica defender. Although left-back Junior Firpo made an error for the first goal, various sports papers took aim at Semedo after the match. AS wrote that Semedo was one of “the leaders of the disaster” before adding that since becoming first choice “he has not grown, he shrank” and “his performance in Granada was unacceptable, like other recent games, and the foul ahead of the second goal typical of his erratic play”.
Meanwhile, local newspaper Sport labelled Semedo “a headless chicken on the left and even on the right has not done enough to be seen as untransferable” in reference to Barca’s determination to keep the player this summer. Whether or not criticism of Semedo represents an easy target for the champions, it is undeniable that the Portuguese is taking a fair share of the backlash for the defeat.
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France: Draws for managerial trio as Renato drops to bench
André Villas-Boas, Paulo Sousa and Leonardo Jardim all recorded draws in Ligue 1 this weekend during the Saturday afternoon games. The least eventful of the three matches saw Jardim’s Monaco earn a 0-0 draw at Reims, with the result leaving the Monegasques still in the relegation zone but a much-needed clean sheet gives the former Sporting boss something to build on.
For Villas-Boas, a 1-1 draw at home with Montpellier, who had Pedro Mendes in defence, saw the hosts come from behind to save a point thanks to Valere Germain’s 74th-minute leveller in a game which saw three red cards in stoppage time including two for AVB’s men. After the match, Villas-Boas lamented the result, telling reporters “when you have 65% possession and 24 shots you normally win” before criticising the referee’s decisions regarding the red cards.
Sousa’s Bordeaux are undefeated in six and move up to 8th place after a 2-2 draw with Brest, after which Sousa praised the attitude of his players. Elsewhere, Portugal U21 international Mathias Pereira Lage registered two assists in Angers’ 4-1 win over St Etienne, while Renato Sanches was introduced on 63 minutes by Lille in a 1-1 draw at Rennes, with Lille president Gerard Lopez later expressing his belief that Sanches will prove critics wrong.
Portuguese bosses:
Vítor Pereira is back in with a chance of defending the CSL title in China after Shanghai SIPG beat Henan Jianye and leaders Guangzhou Evergrande slipped up. Pereira’s men won 2-1 thanks to a last-minute goal from Shenglong Li, while Guangzhou surprising lost at home to Wuhan Zall and the outcomes see Shanghai now three points off the top with five matches remaining.
In Greece, the derby between Panathinaikos and Olympiakos ended 1-1 in Athens. Pedro Martins’ Olympiakos had José Sá, Rúben Semedo and Daniel Podence in the line-up in earning a point which keeps them top of the Super League. That is because Abel Ferreira’s PAOK drew 2-2 at home with Aris, with PAOK getting an equaliser in the ninth minute of added time. Rookie manager Luís Castro is still searching for his first point in Greece after his Panaitolikos were beaten 1-0 at home by AEK, who are resurgent since dispensing with coach Miguel Cardoso.
His namesake, current Shakhtar Donetsk coach Luís Castro, is still protecting a perfect record in the Ukrainian Premier League. Shakhtar recovered from their midweek 3-0 reverse at the hands of Manchester City in the Champions League by getting a 1-0 win at Densa to make it eight wins from eight matches and a 10-point lead at the top of the table.
And finally…
Ricardo Quaresma limped off visibly frustrated after just 15 minutes of Kasimpasa’s 3-0 win over Antalyaspor in Turkey on Saturday afternoon after suffering a knock. In the Netherlands, PSV met Ajax in the big Eredivisie game of the weekend and former Sporting winger Bruma played the full 90 minutes of a 1-1 draw in Eindhoven.
On the goals front, there were Portuguese goals for both the big Sofia clubs in Bulgaria, as influential midfielder Tiago Rodrigues scored in CSKA’s 3-0 win over Tsarsko Selo and Filipe Nascimento came off the bench to break the deadlock as Levski were victorious 2-0 at Slavia. In Cyprus, ex-Amarante midfielder Miguelito opened the scoring in Ethnikos Achna’s 2-0 win over Nea Salamis.
By Sean Gillen
