The Makouta name is well-known in Congo but not just because of Gaius Makouta. His grandfather was Jean-Pierre Majouta-Mboukou a Congolese politician and a famous writer and researcher in linguistics. His political and teaching career led him and his family to France which is where Gaius was born in 1997 in Beaumont-Sur-Oise just north of Paris.

Paul Pogba once said “there is only football in Paris” and this culture bled out into Beaumont-Sur-Oise and sucked Makouta in. Perhaps Makouta’s family would have had high hopes for Gaius to emulate his grandad politically or academically. Little did they know he too would make himself a big name in Congo in a very different walk of life. 

Benfica 3-2 Paços de Ferreira

High-flying Benfica welcomed pointless and until tonight goalless Paços de Ferreira to the Estadio da Luz with only one outcome expected – a handsome win for the hosts. It did not turn out that way.

Although on top for the vast majority of the game, Benfica were made to work hard for a 3-2 win thanks to goals from David Neres, João Mário and Gonçalo Ramos. N’Dri Koffi had opened the scoring and when the same player netted late on it made for a nervy final few minutes for the 55,151 crowd. 

• Primeira Liga,
• Sporting de Braga,
• Vitória de Guimarães,
• Ricardo Horta
• Pacos de Ferreira
• Arouca
• Vitinha
• Estoril Praia
• Casa Pia
• Simon Banza
• James Lea Siliki
• Joao Carlos

On the week that commenced with a shock 2-0 defeat for Sporting against Chaves and resumed with FC Porto’s first loss of the season, at the hands of Rio Ave, 17-goal Sporting de Braga were on hand to make this round of fixtures their own after taking to the top of the table with another beating - this one handed to Arouca in a 6-0 victory.

Estoril Praia were the first to smile after recapturing their form and claiming a key 3-0 victory against winless Paços de Ferreira that deepens the Castores into crisis mode.

The win takes Estoril up to fifth place, level with Casa Pia who themselves left Vitória, their defeated opponents, with questions to ponder ahead of next week’s derby against high-flying Braga. Here’s a round-up of the action from Matchday 4:

Matchday four of the Liga Bwin is done and dusted after a round of matches punctuated by some major shocks in Portugal’s top division, the first of which being promoted Chaves stunning last season’s runners up Sporting at Estádio José Alvalade.

Portimonense continued their fine form with a third straight win, whilst another of the league new boys Casa Pia also secured consecutive victories in the top flight, impressively winning away at Vitória Guimarães.

The other aforementioned shock though was in some ways bigger than the first, defending champions Porto humbled by Rio Ave after a devastating first half display from the Primeira Liga returnees. The display was lit up by a sensational striker’s performance from Aziz Yakubu, our PortuGOAL Figure of the Week.