Sporting midfielder João Mário has been widely considered the best midfielder in the Liga NOS this season.

The Portugal international spoke exclusively to PortuGOAL at the Future of Football international congress organized by Sporting.

Mário talks about his meteoric rise in Portuguese football, coach Jorge Jesus, the title race, Euro 2016, Portugal's new golden generation, Cristiano Ronaldo and a possible move to English football in the future.

Benfica and Sporting won their weekend matches to leave it as you were at the top of the Liga NOS table, but the manner in which both clubs risked losing points suggests this most thrilling of title races could yet have a twist or two before the champions are known.

On Saturday night Sporting went top despite a disjointed performance thanks to a 1-0 victory at Moreirense. Benfica reclaimed first place last night as the Eagles came from behind – and survived a late scare – to beat Vitória Setúbal 2-1 at the Estádio da Luz.

Elsewhere qualification for the Europa League and the scrap to avoid the drop involves an intense battle. PortuGOAL rounds up the Primeira Liga action from Week 30.

There was a great deal of comotion in the green half of Lisbon surrounding the emergence of William Carvalho in 2013, a situation not too dissimilar to the media frenzy trailing Benfica’s Renato Sanches this season.

In less than a year, William, as he’s now commonly known as, underwent the remarkable trajectory from being a loan list regular to representing his country on the biggest stage of them all, becoming a mainstay in Sporting’s first team and attracting the interest from various European sharks in between his journey to stardom.

The following campaign wasn’t to be so kind to the then midfield sensation, however, returning from an abnormally long season by his standards to be thrown into a squad orphan to Marcos Rojo’s transfer to Manchester United in the summer.

Sporting Braga have been eliminated from the Europa League after a 4-0 defeat against Shakhtar Donetsk in Lviv. Down 2-0 at the break after a Darijo Srna penalty and a Ricardo Ferreira own goal, Viktor Kovalenko’s strike and another Ferreira own goal condemned the Portuguese side to a heavy defeat to the 2009 champions.

Braga began the match well but were denied a clear penalty after Olexandr Kucher’s late challenge on Hassan went unrewarded. Not long after Shakhtar went ahead through a penalty of their own. Matheus brought down Viktor Kovalenko in the box after Goiano failed to intercept a ball to the 20-year-old playmaker, Srna slotting home on his record breaking 486th appearance for the Ukraine side.