Portuguese Football in English
Gil Vicente’s debut campaign in Europe continues after a convincing 4-0 win against Riga in Barcelos.
The Portuguese club raced to a 3-0 half-time lead after an Ngonda Muzinga own goal alongside strikes to Kevin Villodres and Fran Navarro. Navarro put the tie to bed in the 76th minute when converted a penalty.
It was a tremendous atmosphere in Barcelos, a reminder of what a joyous and memorable occasion a football match can provide.
Vitória de Guimarães' Europa Conference League campaign has ended despite a 1-0 win against Hajduk Split in the third qualifying round second leg.
Anderson Silva gave the Portuguese club an early lead, but they were unable to square the tie after piling on the pressure for most of the match.
Os Conquistadores competed well but Moreno Teixeira's side showed they are a work in progress, particularly their attackers who are going to need a lot more time to work on their combination play.
PortuGOAL's Matthew Marshall reports from Estádio Dom Afonso Henriques.
Benfica are through to the Champions League play-offs after beating Midtjylland 3-1 in Denmark. Goals to Enzo Fernández and Henrique Araújoestablished a 2-0 lead at Randers Stadium, Pione Sisto volleying home to get the hosts back in the contest in the 63rd mnute.
The gulf in class was evident throughout however, the Danish club never a threat of overturning the deficit with Diogo Gonçalves scoring a peach to seal the deal in the 88th minute.
Portugal’s Primeira Liga returned for the 2022/23 edition this weekend and with it PortuGOAL’s Figure of the Week series is back.
The opening round of fixtures’ standout game looked to be Braga vs Sporting and this premonition did not disappoint as the pair played out a 3-3 thriller.
League newcomers Rio Ave, Chaves and Casa Pia all struggled, failing to score in their respective matches although the latter did pick up a creditable point at Santa Clara.
Defending champions Porto looked hungry to retain their crown and started perfectly by battering Marítimo. Iranian frontman Mehdi Taremi grabbed two goals to continue his excellent recent form for the club.
No more than seven weeks later, the Portuguese Primeira Liga was back in our cities, towns and living rooms to promise boundless joy and drama.
Benfica kicked the season off with a 4-0 win versus Arouca before FC Porto commenced the defence of their league title by thrashing Marítimo 5-1 at home.
The ‘main event’ between Sporting de Braga and Rúben Amorim’s Sporting also delivered, providing a thrilling 3-3 draw, but this wasn’t even half of the action on show as Estoril, Famalicão, new boys Casa Pia and Chaves and main-stays Vitória and Boavista all entertained the nation. Here’s how they fared…
