Portuguese Football in English
In 14 previous visits to German clubs in European competition Sporting had a record of 13 defeats and one draw, but it was a different story tonight at the Waldstadion.
After withstanding heavy pressure in first half, Sporting came out a transformed team after the break, and goals from Marcus Edwards, Francisco Trincão and Nuno Santos gave the Lions a 3-0 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt to get their Champions League campaign off to the perfect start.
Benfica got their Champions League Group H campaign off to a positive start with an ultimately straightforward 2-0 victory over Maccabi Haifa in Lisbon tonight.
The Israeli outfit proved a tough nut to crack in the first half, but two goals in five second half minutes by Rafa Silva and Alex Grimaldo got the job done in front of 55,162 appreciative fans.
A low scoring fifth round of the 2022/23 Liga Bwin season saw early pace-setters Benfica retain their 100% record with a contentious victory over Vizela. Porto and Sporting responded to setbacks in the weekend with defeats of Gil Vicente and Estoril respectively.
There was also a much-needed first win of the campaign for Santa Clara, narrowly beating struggling Marítimo in a battle of the islands. Braga also edged Vitória Guimarães in a typically tense Minho derby.
One of the league’s surprise packages so far has been Portimonense, and they are in focus after the southerners registered a fourth win in a row to sail into fourth place. The man guiding the ship Paulo Sérgio is our PortuGOAL Figure of the Week.
Ten-man Marítimo have been plunged deep into crisis mode after a 2-1 defeat away to Santa Clara left them pointless at the foot of the table after five league games.
The Lions from Madeira took the lead but were unravelled by a second-half turnaround from Santa Clara, turning the game on its head and and Marítimo boss Vasco Seabra facing the axe the next day.
Travelling across different terrain, a fourth win from five games took Portimonense level on points with FC Porto after succeeding at home versus Famalicão, helped on by Pedrão’s sole goal.
Elsewhere, both Chaves and Rio Ave played out a 1-1 draw on Monday night to round off Matchday 5, fending off the Vilacondenses’ hopes of catching up with the Flavienses in the league table after last week's shock victory over Porto.
Boavista secured their third win of the season after beating Paços de Ferreira 1-0 at Estádio do Bessa XXI.
Robert Bozenik netted the winner in the 58th minute, opening his account for the Panthers after being teed up by the impressive Kenji Gorré.
Paços de Ferreira’s miserable start to the season continues, the visitors creating one shot on target as they slumped to a fifth straight defeart.
