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Portuguese Abroad round-up: Jota at the double; Ronaldo on target; Nélson Oliveira hat-trick in Greece; AVB beats Sousa; Mou bounces back; Paixão form continues

Another exciting weekend of action across Europe saw as many as ten foreign-based Portuguese on target for their clubs. Leading the way was Diogo Jota who scored twice in Wolverhampton Wanderers’ 2-2 draw with Brighton in England.

Cristiano Ronaldo was also on the scoresheet as Juventus suffered a rare defeat, while Nélson Oliveira and Flávio Paixão continued their strong seasons in Greece and Poland with a hat-trick and brace respectively. On the managerial front, there was a big win for André Villas-Boas’ Marseille over Paulo Sousa’s Bordeaux, and José Mourinho and Tottenham Hotspur got back to winning ways.

ENGLAND: Jota the hero

Diogo Jota’s brace for Wolves in their draw with Brighton was a much-needed return to the scoresheet for the former Porto man, who has found goals hard to come by so far this season. Prior to Sunday’s match Jota had scored just once in the current campaign – away against Crystal Palace in September. Jota’s change of luck in front of goal mimics what can happen if you take advantage of bonuses for casinos, with fortune favouring the brave. 

Jota opened the scoring after a neat one-two with strike partner Raul Jimenez and later drew his team level at 2-2 just before half time, after Brighton had led during a frantic first half. Speaking after the match, Jota acknowledged his relief at rediscovering his goalscoring form but was keen to emphasise the wider picture.

“I’m always looking to get the goal or an assist to help the team. I am doing my best, but I wasn’t scoring. I think today, with two goals, it was a good moment for me, but I’d switch those goals for the victory if that was possible,” he said. “I always believed. Like I said, sometimes we score, sometimes we don’t, or because of this or because of that, but we always have to keep on going – that’s the secret.”

Rui Patrício, João Moutinho and Rúben Neves all joined Jota in Nuno Espírito Santo’s side, while Pedro Neto and Rúben Vinagre were second-half introductions. Wolves are 6th in the Premier League, having not lost in 11 league matches.

Elsewhere, Bernardo Silva’s Manchester City appear to be out of the title race after the Portuguese midfielder gave away a penalty in their local derby defeat to Manchester United. City lost 2-1 – with João Cancelo on the bench – and drift 14 points behind leaders Liverpool at the top of the standings.

Leicester continue to impress observers and a 4-1 win at Aston Villa with Ricardo Pereira at right-back maintained The Foxes’ position in 2nd place. Tottenham got back to winning ways with a 5-0 hammering of Burnley and José Mourinho’s men are up to 7th place. “Perfect day: no injuries; clean sheet; goals; quality football; three kids from the bench. I think it was perfect.”

 

FRANCE: Villas-Boas overcomes Sousa

André Villas-Boas was delighted with his Marseille side after they came from behind to beat Paulo Sousa’s Bordeaux on Sunday evening. Second met third at the Stade Velodrome with the two in-form sides led by Portuguese looking to continue their impressive run behind Paris Saint-Germain in Ligue 1.

Sousa’s Bordeaux had a half-time lead thanks to Yacine Adli’s superb strike after half an hour, but Marseille remained the dominant side and second half goals from Jordan Amavi, Morgan Sanson and Nemanja Radonjic gave Villas-Boas’ side all three points and their sixth successive league victory.

 "We played a perfect match because the guys have incredible dedication and physicality,” said the former Porto coach. "We feel good mentally with players who give everything to the team, those who start like those who are on the bench, that's one of our strengths. We dominated the whole game, obviously Mandanda was decisive this season but today he didn’t make a save: we controlled the entire game, shot 24 times against the team that was third at the start of the day.”

Sousa was also positive, despite seeing his side give up a half time lead. “The emotional control of my players changed a lot in the second half, against a very experienced, very well organised team with good players. Their supporters began to push, one mistake then another gave motivation to our opponents. 

“On the second Marseille goal Otavio did not need to hurry. He [gave away the ball] trying to play through the middle when there was no pressure to do it. To compete at this level and the one we hope to achieve, our team must have control of the game with the ball. 

“I believe in that. What happened will help the players to evolve. Everything we showed in the first half indicates that we are on the right track, but a mistake on our part gave them the chance to get into the game. Afterwards, we have to manage it better.”

Mendes off; Sanches run continues

Lille replaced Bordeaux in 3rd place with their third consecutive 1-0 victory, this time coming at home against Brest. Renato Sanches has started all three matches and was impressive again in the win over Brest, where he was joined in Christophe Galtier’s side by Portuguese duo José Fonte and Xeka.

Pedro Mendes was crucially sent off for two bookable offences as Montpellier lost 3-1 at home to Paris Saint-Germain. With the score level at 1-1, Mendes brought down Neymar and received his second yellow card, after which the champions scored twice in five minutes through Kylian Mbappe and Mauro Icardi.

 

ITALY: Ronaldo on target

Champions Juventus relinquished a lead given to them by Cristiano Ronaldo to lose their first match of the season away at Lazio on Saturday evening in Serie A. Ronaldo opened the scoring after 25 minutes, superbly exchanging passes with Rodrigo Bentancur before converting from close range for his 7th league goal of the season.

However, Brazilian defender Luiz Felipe powered Lazio level just before the break and the game turned in the second half when Juve’s Juan Cuadrado was sent off for a last-man foul. Lazio went ahead through Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and soon after missed a penalty, but wrapped up the points in stoppage time through former Sporting striker Felipe Caicedo.

The first match of the weekend saw the highly-anticipated clash between Inter and Roma at San Siro. Paulo Fonseca’s Roma came away with a goalless draw and a valuable point which sees them in 5th place and outside the Champions League spots behind Cagliari on goal difference.

“We got our choices wrong in the final third, but it was still a good game. Our intention was to play and hold the ball, I feel we did that and at times were in total control of the match,” Fonseca said. “The team improved a great deal in all areas, but we do need to work still on the final attacking movements. That is the area where we really have to do better.”

 

GREECE: Oliveira hits hat-trick

Nélson Oliveira was in sensational form this weekend in Greece for AEK Athens, where the Portuguese will have impressed incoming new coach Massimo Carrera with a hat-trick as the capital club beat Panionios 5-0.

Oliveira had already seen one goal ruled out for offside when he swept AEK ahead on 17 minutes with a cool right-footed finish, before doubling the tally for himself and his side from close range ten minutes later. The former Benfica man sealed his treble from the penalty spot on 64 minutes, after which Daniele Verde and Petros Mandalos made it an emphatic scoreline for the hosts.

AEK remain ten points behind title-challengers Olympiacos and PAOK, who continue to battle it out at the summit of the Super League. Daniel Podence was on the scoresheet for Olympiacos in their 3-0 win at Panaitolokis, which also saw José Sá and Rúben Semedo feature, while PAOK beat Xanthi 2-0 with Vieirinha in the side to stay in 2nd place on goal difference.

 

GOALS ROUND-UP: Paixão on fire in Poland

Veteran Portuguese striker Flávio Paixão is enjoying a fine run of form in Poland’s Ekstraklasa. Paixão scored twice this weekend to give Lechia Gdansk a 2-0 win over Wisla Plock, making it six goals in his last four matches in all competitions for the 35-year-old. Paixão recently became the all-time record foreign-born goalscorer in Polish league history.

Finally, former Tondela striker Tomané scored for Red Star Belgrade in their 3-1 win over Spartak Subotica in Serbia, while there were also goals for João Amaral (Lech Poznan) in Poland, Bruno Gama (Aris) in Greece, Asumah (Kriens) in Switzerland and Yazalde (Hermannstadt) who scored a brace in Romania.

By Sean Gillen

@SeanGillen9