Luka Zahovic open to chance of playing for the Seleção
That Portugal have a chronic problem in producing top-class strikers is no secret. Could an 18-year-old going by the most un-Portuguese name of Luka Zahovic be the answer to the Seleção’s problems up front in the near future?
Son of former Vitória Guimarães, FC Porto and Benfica attacking midfielder Zlatko Zahovic, Luka was born in Portugal where he lived his early childhood while his father was playing in the Primeira Liga.
And speaking to the press after scoring against Sporting in the Champions League last night, Zahovic junior admitted: “If I received a proposal to play for the two national sides I would have to think hard about it, but I’d probably choose Portugal.”
Portugal coach relieved of his duties by the Portuguese Football Federation
Paulo Bento is no longer the coach of the Seleção. The Portugal boss has paid the price for an underwhelming World Cup qualifying campaign, a poor showing at Brazil 2014 and the dreadful performance in the opening Euro 2016 qualifying match last Sunday, which ended in a 1-0 defeat at home to Albania.
The Seleçao began their Euro 2016 qualifying campaign at the Estadio Municipal de Aveiro with a miserable defeat to lowly Albania. With Cristiano Ronaldo sidelined due to injury, Portugal once again failed to prove that their coherency as a team doesn't depend solely on their illustrious talisman.
Despite all of the new faces in the Portuguese side, Paulo Bento stayed true to form by choosing a relatively familiar starting eleven with Nani and Vieirinha on the wings, and Éder at striker. André Gomes was preferred in the holding central midfield role over Raul Meireles while Ricardo Costa deputised for the injured Bruno Alves. Nani was named Portugal's captain in Ronaldo's absence.
In the wake of Portugal’s disappointing World Cup performance, coach Paulo Bento has made wholesales changes for the opening Euro 2016 qualifier against Albania next week.
Ruben Vezo, Ricardo Horta and Pedro Tiba all get their first call-ups, while the return of Anthony Lopes, Antunes, Adrien Silva, André Gomes, Bruma and Ivan Cavaleiro represents nine new faces in relation to the squad that went to Brazil. Captain Cristiano Ronaldo has been left out of the squad because of lack of fitness.
Bruno got his 19th assist against Brentford [Getty Images]
With Manchester United’s place in next season’s Champions League all-but-sealed, attention has increasingly drifted to several other talking points surrounding the Red Devils ahead of their final four matches in the Premier League.
While the future of current interim boss Michael Carrick is still chief amongst the hot subjects, the story of Bruno Fernandes chasing the all-time assists records for both the Premier League and beyond, as well as his case for individual awards, is a growing topic around the club.
Fernandes has racked up an astonishing 19 assists in the English top flight so far, putting him just one off the Premier League record of 20, which is shared by Thierry Henry [2002-03] of Arsenal and Kevin de Bruyne [2019-20] of Manchester City. Perhaps more intriguingly, the record across Europe’s top-5 leagues stands at 21, shared by Lionel Messi [2019-20] of Barcelona and Thomas Mueller [2019-20] of Bayern Munich.
With both records within touching distance, Fernandes merely needs to maintain his recent form to put his name in the record books. Remarkably, Fernandes did not gain his first assist of the season until the 8th matchday against Liverpool, when he set up Harry Maguire’s late winner to give United a 2-1 victory.
While Fernandes’ ratio of assists was becoming consistent under previous United manager Ruben Amorim, it has elevated further since the Portuguese boss’ departure. In the 14 matches since Amorim left and Bruno moved to a more advanced role, he has delivered 12 assists; more pertinently, he has seven assists from his last seven matches.
With United fans desperate for Bruno to maintain his numbers across the next four matches to equal or break each record, Carrick has inevitably been fielding questions about his skipper. The assists quest has drawn further attention to shouts for Fernandes to be awarded either the Players’ Player of the Year or the Football Writers’ Player of the Year come the season’s end.
“Hopefully he does [win an end of season award] because he deserves it for the impact that he’s had, for the moments he’s created,” Carrick said after Bruno secured an assist for Benjamin Sesko's decisive goal in Monday’s 2-1 victory over Brentford. “Whether that’s creating, whether that’s scoring or whether it’s having other influence in the group. He’s having a big season, there’s no getting away from it.”
"We trust him"
Speaking earlier, Carrick was asked about his own role in helping unlock enhanced quality from Fernandes, whom many believe is in the best form of his United career since joining six years ago from Sporting, when Carrick was on the Unted coaching staff.
“We give Bruno the platform to go and perform, like all the players,” Carrick said. “We try to create the structure and a team set-up. I like seeing Bruno in attacking positions with a bit of freedom. Obviously, he plays for the team and he has a big responsibility within that and he does that ever so well, without the ball and the defensive work.
“We trust in him. He’s a very good player, he sees things, he’s creative, he’s got a really good brain, he’s a big part of the group and a big influence. So a lot of it is in trust and trying to put him in the place where he can make the biggest difference.
“I’ve known Bruno a long time and I was here and worked with him when he came to the club. It hasn’t surprised me. Over time you evolve and experience helps. You can certainly see that he’s grown in a real positive way. He’s just a big influence, he’s had a big impact and he’s playing ever so well at the moment.”
Should Bruno equal the record with an assist this weekend, there could be no better opponent against whom to mark the occasion. United host bitter rivals Liverpool at Old Trafford on Sunday, where a win would mathematically secure Champions League football.
