The football season is nearing its end and that means that the crescendo is close. The domestic leagues are reaching their climax, and football lovers all over the world are rubbing their hands in anticipation of the final stages of the European competitions.
Sure, Portuguese clubs are out of the Champions League, Europa League and the Europa Conference League, but there are plenty of Portuguese players who may taste European glory this season.
If you want to watch your countrymen in person, read more here to find out where you can get tickets. Today, however, we are not going to discuss the tickets. We are going to discuss which Portuguese players are still in with a chance of winning a European title.
UEFA Champions League: Bernardo Silva, João Cancelo, Rúben Dias and Diogo Jota
Is this season finally the season for Manchester City? Can the blues from Manchester win the most elite European competition? Last year Chelsea got the better of Pep Guardiola’s team in the final, played in Porto, but this year Manchester City players seem more mature. They are the favourites to win the Champions League.
If that happens, Portuguese players, Bernardo Silva, João Cancelo and Rúben Dias will win the most important title in European club football. The first two have been among City’s best players this season, and while Dias has been out for some time with injury, the powerful centre-back is returning at just the right time, ahead of the semi-finals and a possible final.
Can they do it? Not if you ask Real Madrid, Liverpool and Villarreal.
Since we mentioned Liverpool, we must discuss the opportunity Diogo Jota has of winning the Champions League. While most people lean towards Manchester City winning it, they must first beat Benzema and Real Madrid in the semi-final. Diogo Jota and Liverpool have an apparently easier path to the final. Villarreal showed everyone that they are a club capable of big wins by knocking out Bayern Munich. But Jota, who has notched 21 goals for the Reds in 2021/22, alongside Mo Salah, Sadio Mané, Luis Díaz and Roberto Firmino give Liverpool arguably the most firepower of any team on the planet at this point in time, and will surely prove too hot for the Spanish side to contain.
There is a good chance that Portugal will have four players featuring in the final as a rematch of the recent Manchester City-Liverpool games is very much on the cards for the Champions League final in Paris.
UEFA Europa League: André Silva, Gonçalo Paciência
While not reproducing his incredible form of last season, when he notched 32 goals for Eintracht Frankfurt, Portuguese striker André Silva has had a reasonably successful debut campaign at RB Leipzig, scoring 15 goals for the German club thus far. Leipzig have progressed to the semi-finals of the Europa League, where they will take on Scottish outfit Rangers for a place in the final of Europe’s second most important club competition. Silva and company will be confident of setting up a final against either the centre-forward’s former club Eintracht or West Ham United.
Should it be an all-German final, the two squads will contain a Portuguese player. On one side will be André Silva, and on the other will be Gonçalo Paciência. The former Porto striker’s career has been blighted by injuries, but he is still on the books of Eintracht Frankfurt, and despite not being a regular starter the centre-forward has notched four goals this season, including two in the Europa League.
UEFA Europa Conference League: Rui Patrício, Sérgio Oliveira, Ricardo Pereira
Many experts claimed that José Mourinho is done, but the charismatic Portuguese coach is doing well in Serie A and has led the Rome club into the semi-finals of the Europa League. That means experienced Portuguese campaigners Rui Patrício and Sérgio Oliveira have the chance to win a European title.
Many make in-form Roma the favourites to win the new UEFA competition, but with Leicester City, Feyenoord and Marseille still involved, it is difficult to pick the winner. Leicester are Roma’s next opponents, the English club reaching this stage after knocking out PSV Eindhoven in the quarter-finals thanks to a late goal by Portuguese right-back Ricardo Pereira. Leicester and Roma face off in the semis meaning at least one Portuguese player will be involved in the final that will be staged in Tirana, Albania.
