Vitória goalkeeper Bruno Varela’s week thus far has showcased the good and the bad in Portuguese football, and it could yet encapsulate glory.

Thousands of the Guimarães club’s inimitable fans invaded Porto on Sunday evening to roar their team onto a 2-1 victory at Boavista, thus securing Vitória’s first back-to-back wins in the Primeira Liga since September.

The match was marred however by racial abuse directed at Varela, causing the match to be interrupted in the first half. The 30-year-old stopper went on to help his team collect the three points ahead of their crunch Conference League second-leg showdown against Real Betis this Thursday.

Kevin Fernandes profiles PortuGOAL Figure of the Week Bruno Varela. 

Often cited as the great underachievers of Portuguese football, there are evident signs that Vitória Sport Clube are at last heading towards sustainable growth built on solid foundations. Based in Guimarães, the birthplace of Portugal, Vitória’s fanbase might not be the most numerous in a country dominated by three football colossuses, but it is arguably the most passionate in the land.

Zach Lowy takes an in-depth look at where the club are, how they arrived here, and this season’s brilliant European campaign, which could incorporate another golden chapter against Real Betis tomorrow. 

Benfica suffered a 3-1 defeat in Barcelona which ended their Champions League campaign in the round of 16. Following a 1-0 loss in the first leg in Lisboa, the Eagles never looked like overturning the deficit in Spain.

Raphinha opened the scoring in the 11th minute when Lamine Yamal’s miscued effort fell straight into his path. Nicolás Otamendi converted from a corner two minutes later, but that was as good as it got for the Portuguese club.

Yamal did it all himself in the 27th minute when he restored Barcelona’s lead, curling a textbook strike into the top corner. Raphinha finished off a swift counter-attack on the stroke of half-time to put the tie to bed.

Bruno Lage’s side staged a late fight back but it was far too little too late, Barcelona’s superiority on and off the pitch confirmed after their third victory against Benfica in the space of seven weeks.

Reigning Portuguese champions Sporting earned an important win in Rio Maior this afternoon, beating Casa Pia 3-1 thanks to the exact same recipe as last weekend’s victory over Estoril – a Gonçalo Inácio header and a Viktor Gyökeres brace.

A potentially difficult encounter was on the cards with Casa Pia unbeaten at home since August, but Sporting took an early lead when centre-back Inácio headed in a fine Geovany Quenda cross. Gyökeres was causing Casa Pia’s defenders all sorts of problems and the Swede doubled the visitors’ lead in the 34th minute when he latched onto Morten Hjulmand’s long pass, drove into the penalty area and beat Patrick Sequeira with a low cross-shot although the normally reliable Costa Rican goalkeeper should have kept it out.

The hosts got back into the game on the stroke of half time as Ricardo Esgaio turned a dangerous cross from the impressive Gaizka Larrazabal into his own net and Casa Pia applied pressure at the start of the second half, Rui Silva saving athletically from José Fonte.

Francisco Trincão earned a penalty when he was felled by a clumsy Duplexe Tchamba tackle, which Gyökeres duly dispatched in emphatic fashion to end all doubts about the winner. Sporting remain three points ahead of Lisbon rivals Benfica having played one game more.