Portuguese Football in English
José Mourinho’s first official match in charge of Fenerbahçe was an eventful one, with the Turkish side coming from behind to beat Lugano 4-3 in Switzerland to take control of their Champions League qualifier tie.
Mourinho’s side went behind to an early Lugano goal but recovered to take a strong lead into the return fixture largely thanks to an Edin Dzeko hat-trick. After the match, Mourinho was highly critical of the playing surface at the Stockhorn Arena, as well as his own team’s defending.
Former Sporting prospect Renato Veiga completed his transfer to English side Chelsea over the weekend, signing an astonishing 7-year contract at Stamford Bridge with the option of a further year.
At just 20, the London club are betting long term on Veiga’s potential. With football already in his family, Veiga arrives having already lived in a handful of different countries and capable of speaking five languages. We take a look at the latest Portuguese hoping to make the grade in the Premier League.
Former Sporting forward Paulinho made a sensational impact on his full debut for Mexican side Toluca at the weekend, scoring twice in a 3-2 victory over Juarez.
Paulinho has been training with his new club for two weeks, having joined from the Lions in an €8m move in June. After a 30-minute cameo at Chivas on the opening day of the season last week, the Portuguese was installed into Renato Paiva’s line-up for Sunday’s home match against Juarez.
João Palhinha has finally competed his long-awaited transfer from Fulham to Bundesliga heavyweights Bayern Munich, signing a four-year deal in Germany.
Palhinha had been set to move to Bayern at the end of last summer’s transfer window, but the deal collapsed at the last minute. Now the Portugal midfielder has got what he describes as a dream move to one of Europe’s biggest clubs.
It would be true to say that defensive midfielders don’t always get the credit they deserve.
Their output isn’t quantified in goals, assists etc, which are the simple measuring blocks that make it easy for fair-weather fans to understand which players are performing at an elite level.
But soccer’s statistical revolution has at least offered a peak behind the curtain for all players, with numerous metrics revealing the importance of defence-minded midfielders even in a sport that is obsessed with offensive output.
It’s one of the reasons why Fulham and Portugal midfielder João Palhinha is so in demand this summer – a player whose value to club and country goes far beyond basic numerical measures.
