Successive victories were on the cards for all of our ‘Big Three’ clubs coming out of Matchday Two of the Primeira Liga, with Benfica being the first to set the tone away to Boavista on Saturday night.
The Eagles, fuelled by goals from Facundo Ferreyra and Pizzi, took all three points at the Bessa over Boavista, meanwhile back in the Portuguese capital, a Nani double set Sporting on level terms with their rivals ahead of next Saturday’s Lisbon Derby, as the Lions took down Vitória de Setúbal with a 2-1 victory at home.
In joining the two Lisbon outfits at the top of the table, FC Porto left it late, despite having led by 2-0, with a 95th minute Alex Telles penalty snatching a 3-2 win against Belenenses on Sunday night. Here’s how the action unfolded.
Liga NOS is back for another season and with it PortuGOAL’s Figure of the Week feature. Each week we highlight the standout figure (player or manager) of the round’s action with the caveat that no individual be featured more than once throughout the campaign. 
With a sizeable 306 games to look forward to, it’s with a spread of renewed faith that we all welcomed back Primeira Liga football for the 2018/19 season.
There is no getting away from it: Portugal’s Primeira Liga has seen a brutal downgrading of its talent pool in recent seasons – and the trend continues apace. As the financial disparity between Portuguese football and the rest of Europe’s top leagues grows ever wider, Porto, Benfica and Sporting are all fighting a losing battle to hold on to their best players and now seem incapable of attracting exciting young prospects like before, let alone players with an established pedigree, give or take the odd veteran.
The domestic season in Portugal has come to a close so it’s time to sum up which individuals impressed most across the campaign.