Portuguese Football in English
On 19 June 2020 a largely unknown 17-year-old made his debut for Sporting Clube de Portugal. Just 14 months later, Nuno Mendes has become a teammate of Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé and Neymar at PSG in a deal worth €50 million euros for the Lisbon club. He signs during international duty, where he is a teammate of Cristiano Ronaldo.
The phrase “meteoric rise” perhaps does not do full justice to describe such remarkable progress.
Liga Bwin’s opening gambit concluded for the season’s first international break this weekend with a number of closely fought, intense encounters. Benfica became the sole team with a 100% record, rising to the top of table after a late comeback win over Tondela, the Eagles taking advantage of defending champions Sporting slipping to a draw at Famalicão.
Two of the previous campaign’s surprise packages got vital wins amid busy schedules, Santa Clara and Paços Ferreira overcoming Gil Vicente and Portimonense respectively.
One of the surprise packages so far though continues to be Bruno Pinheiro’s Estoril, who carried on their unbeaten start by beating Marítimo. Their young manager is our PortuGOAL Figure of the Week after guiding his team to 4th place in Liga Bwin.
Benfica have moved up to first place in the Primeira Liga table after a late Gilberto winner versus Tondela saw the Eagles take advantage of a Sporting slip-up with a 2-1 victory, this Sunday.
At home, Jorge Jesus’ men were forced to come from behind after a first-half goal from Salvador Agra set Tondela on course for a huge early-season scalp.
Two goals in the final 20 minutes of the 90 turned the tables on the northern outfit, however, maintaining Benfica’s 100% win ratio in the Primeira Liga and opening up a two-point advantage over their rivals, Porto and Sporting.
Beforehand, Porto were the first of the top clubs in action, dispatching three goals past newcomers Arouca in a 3-0 victory at the Estádio do Dragão that initially seen them warm up first place.
The Lions were made to fight for a point after an unfortunate Nuno Mendes own-goal placed Famalicão a goal up, equalising only as late as the 82nd minute through João Palhinha to avoid defeat.
Elsewhere, Braga were unable to apply pressure on the likes of Porto and Sporting with a goalless draw of their own against Vitória in the Minho Derby, with the two foes remaining two points apart in the table.
Paços de Ferreira and Santa Clara have seen their European dreams come to an end after losing to Tottenham Hotspur and Partizan Belgrade in the Europa Conference League qualifiers, this Thursday.
Holding onto a slender 1-0 advantage from the first leg, Paços saw their opponents reply with three goals of their own back on English shores, including two from Harry Kane, in a successful night for Spurs boss Nuno Espírito Santo.
Santa Clara also had hopes of defending their 1-0 lead ahead of their travels to Belgrade to face Partizan, but two first-half goals from the Serbian outfit shattered the fairy-tale to confirm a double-elimination for the two Primeira Liga hopefuls.
Portugal have three teams in the group stage of this season’s Champions League, but after today’s draw it will need some against-the-odds results for them to survive in the competition beyond Christmas, especially FC Porto and Benfica.
The Dragons have a particularly tough group, going head-to-head with three heavyweights in Atlético Madrid, Liverpool and AC Milan in Group B. Benfica do not have it much easier, with the Eagles drawn alongside Bayern Munich and Barcelona, as well as Dynamo Kiev.
Sporting were placed in Pot One as champions of Portugal and were rewarded for being top seeds with a less daunting task. The Lions will lock horns with Borussia Dortmund, Ajax and Besiktas in what appears a well-balanced Group C.
