Rio Ave drew 0-0 against Belenenses SAD at the Estádio do Rio Ave despite dominating the match and seeing a late goal ruled out for offside. The result keeps Carlos Carvalhal’s well organised side in contention for the UEFA Europa League and a chance to achieve their highest position in the Portuguese top flight.

This week has been a disaster for Liga NOS teams in the Europa League. Braga, Porto, Sporting and Benfica, undoubtedly the four strongest clubs in Portugal, were all knocked out of the competition after first-leg results had seemingly given all four a decent chance of making progress.

Unfortunately, it is more evidence of an alarming slide in the quality of Portugal’s top division. It was not so long ago that Porto lifted the world’s ultimate prize in club football, José Mourinho’s Dragons winning the Champions League in 2004. One year earlier Porto had triumphed in Europe’s secondary competition and would do so again in 2011, while Sporting, Braga and Benfica (twice) also made the Europa League final between 2005 and 2014. 

In the first decade and a half of the new millennium, Portugal’s top division was considered an incubator, even a finishing school, for some of the world’s biggest footballing talents: Hulk, Di Maria, James Rodríguez, Falcao, David Luiz, Ederson, Oblak, as well as a smattering of top-class local talent such as Rui Patrício, William Carvalho, Ricardo Carvalho and Fábio Coentrão to name just a few.

Those days seem long gone. So why has this unfortunate metamorphosis taken place? Here are five reasons that help explain the decline of Portuguese club football. 

• Benfica
• Pizzi
• Europa League
• Rafa Silva
• Shakhtar Donetsk
• Luis Castro

Benfica 3-3 Shakhtar Donetsk (aggregate: 4-5)

Benfica have followed all Portuguese sides out of the Europa League Round of 32 after drawing 3-3 to Luís Castro’s Shakhtar Donetsk at the Estádio da Luz, leaving behind a 5-4 aggregate loss.

The Eagles led the tie on the night on two separate occasions after Pizzi’s opener and an early Rafa Silva goal in the second half, placing Bruno Lage’s men 4-3 up over two legs.

Shakhtar were quick to snatch the advantage back off the hosts through Taras Stepanenko, paving way for the killer blow from Alan Patrick in the 70th minute, seeing the Ukrainian side through to the next round of the competition.

• Sporting,
• Europa League

Istanbul Basaksehir 4-1 Sporting (aggregate: 5-4)

Sporting were eliminated from the Europa League in what was one of their worst European displays in recent memory. A Martin Skrtel header and Danijel Aleksic freekick put Istanbul Basaksehir 2-0 up at half time. However, Luciano Vietto’s second-half goal looked to be enough to see the Lisbon side through until Edin Visca fired the game into extra time.

It looked to be going to a penalty shootout until Luciano Vietto gave away a penalty in the final moments of extra time which Visca finished emphatically.