Portuguese Football in English
Three matches, three wins, eight goals scored and none conceded. New Vitória coach Rui Borges could not have made a better start to life in the dugout of the northern club following his summer appointment.
A convincing performance against Zurich resulted in three unanswered second-half goals to practically book Vitória’s place in the playoff of the UEFA Conference League. Tom Kundert reports.
The Primeira Liga kicks off on Friday evening as champions Sporting host Rio Ave at Alvalade.
While much of the preseason talk has focused on the Big Three and the fight for the title, plenty of fascinating storylines and eye-catching off-season transfer activity among the rest of the 15 teams in Portugal’s top flight has whetted the appetite ahead of the big kick-off.
Albert and Barney Carter-Phillips (@LongBallFutebol) pick out four teams, Rio Ave, Estoril, Nacional and Estrela da Amadora, whose summer incomings have raised eyebrows among the Portuguese football community.
Eight years after leaving Benfica as a teenager, Renato Sanches has officially rejoined the Portuguese club on a season-long loan from Paris Saint-Germain.
Sanches, who left the Eagles for Bayern Munich as a newly-crowned European champion with Portugal in 2016, arrives back at Estádio da Luz as part of the move which saw João Neves depart in the other direction to the French champions.
Sporting 3-4 FC Porto
FC Porto came back from a three-goal first half deficit to defeat Sporting 4-3 in this season’s Super Taça final, held in Aveiro.
The Lions raced to a 3-0 lead within the first half-hour of the game with goals from Gonçalo Inácio, Pedro Gonçalves and Geovany Quenda, spelling danger for a Porto side seemingly sinking without trace.
After Galeno pulled a goal back, however, the Dragons were able to conjure up a comeback with two goals in as many minutes, prior to Iván Jaime’s extra-time winner.
Vitória 4-0 Floriana (Aggregate: 5-0)
There is life after Jota! The day after Vitória’s star player was officially unveiled as a new Nottingham Forest player, a big crowd in Guimarães saw their side swat aside Maltese team Floriana thanks to four first-half goals to complete a 5-0 aggregate win.
Ricardo Mangas was the star of the show with two goals and an assist, Kaio César and Jorge Fernandes scoring the others. Tom Kundert reports on the action at the Dom Afonso Henriques stadium.
