Portuguese Football Season 2016/17

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Liga NOS
9th Matchday


Benfica 3-0 P. Ferreira
1-0 Gonçalo Guedes 26'
2-0 Eduardo Salvio 64'
3-0 Pizzi 87'
Att: 52.731

Nacional 0-0 Sporting
Att: 3.954

Tondela 1-2 Moreirense
0-1 Daniel Podence 6'
1-1 Wagner Borges 18'
1-2 Emmanuel Boateng 87'
Att: 1.283

Vit. Setúbal 0-0 FC Porto
Att: 7.245

Boavista 0-0 Estoril Praia
Att: 4.182

Arouca 1-0 Marítimo
1-0 Walter González 82'
Att: 1.071

Rio Ave 0-3 Vit. Guimarães
0-1 Moussa Marega (pen.) 8'
0-2 Moussa Marega 66'
0-3 Moussa Marega 81'
Att: 6.166

Braga 2-1 Belenenses
1-0 Ricardo Horta 5'
2-0 Ricardo Horta 84'
2-1 Tiago Caeiro 88'
Att: 10.098

Chaves 1-1 Feirense
0-1 Tasos Karamanos 45+1'
1-1 Rodrigo Battaglia 71'
Att: 3.053


15 goals in 9 games! The season average is now down to 2.36, only Russia is worse in the top 7 leagues.

Both FC Porto and Sporting lost points to Benfica and the eagles are now enjoying a 5 point lead. Sporting had another uninspiring game, they're having trouble to create chances, while FC Porto created enough to win 3 games but missed them all somehow. Braga also took advantage of the situation to overtake Sporting and catch Porto. Vit. Guimarães had a phenomenal result against their main rivals for the 5th position and are even bigger favourites now to win that race.

At the bottom, what did I say about Tondela last week? They can be really annoying against the big teams, and already got 2 points against Porto and Sporting, but to avoid the drop they actually need to win games and home games against Moreirense are definitely among the ones they should be winning. Instead, they lost, so they drop to the last position and are the favourites to end there. As for the other relegated team, it's really hard to predict. Almost all candidates had decent to good results, Marítimo and Chaves didn't, but there are about 4 teams more likely to get the drop than them, perhaps Feirense still the most likely.


Table:

1. Benfica 25
2. FC Porto 20
3. Braga 20
4. Sporting 18
5. Vit. Guimarães 17
6. Chaves 13
7. Rio Ave 11
8. Feirense 11
9. Vit. Setúbal 10
10. Boavista 10
11. Marítimo 10
12. P. Ferreira 9
13. Belenenses 9
14. Nacional 8
15. Moreirense 8
16. Estoril Praia 8
17. Arouca 8
18. Tondela 6


Top Scorers:

1. Moussa Marega (Vit. Guimarães) 10
2. André Silva (FC Porto) 7
3. Pedro Santos (Braga) 5


Assists:

1. Gelson Martins (Sporting) 5
2. João Aurélio (Vit. Guimarães) 4
2. Bryan Ruiz (Sporting) 4


10th Matchday

Vit. Guimarães vs. Nacional
Estoril Praia vs. Tondela
P. Ferreira vs. Chaves
Feirense vs. Belenenses
Rio Ave vs. Boavista
Moreirense vs. Vit. Setúbal
FC Porto vs. Benfica
Sporting vs. Arouca
Marítimo vs. Braga

[Thunder_PT]

Liga NOS
10th Matchday


Vit. Guimarães 2-1 Nacional
0-1 Okacha Hamzaoui 49'
1-1 Soares 75'
2-1 Soares (pen.) 89'
Att: 13.085

Estoril Praia 2-0 Tondela
1-0 Gustavo Tocantins 73'
2-0 Gustavo Tocantins 76'
Att: 1.184

P. Ferreira 1-1 Chaves
0-1 Rodrigo Battaglia 55'
1-1 Pedrinho 80'
Att: 2.794

Feirense 0-1 Belenenses
0-1 Fábio Sturgeon 13'
Att: 2.225

Rio Ave 1-2 Boavista
0-1 Renato Santos 25'
1-1 Gil Dias 33'
1-2 Nuno Henrique 49'
Att: 2.705

Moreirense 1-2 Vit. Setúbal
1-0 Emmanuel Boateng 71'
1-1 André Claro 75'
1-2 João Amaral 83'
Att: 992

FC Porto 1-1 Benfica
1-0 Diogo Jota 50'
1-1 Lisandro López 90+3'
Att: 50.019

Sporting 3-0 Arouca
1-0 Bas Dost 9'
2-0 Joel Campbell 55'
3-0 Bas Dost 68'
Att: 40.743

Marítimo 1-0 Braga
1-0 Edgar Costa 19'
Att: 6.103


Starting with the game of the weekend, what a disappointment for FC Porto! After the 2 points dropped in Setúbal in the previous matchday, it was of the utmost importance to get the 3 points here. FC Porto were fantastic until the goal, by the time they scored they should have been leading by at least 2. Then Benfica balanced things up a bit, but Porto were always in control. Everybody were ready to congratulate Porto on the win and the performance when an 11th hour goal came out of nowhere to keep Benfica 5 points clear... In Portugal we talk about some teams having a "little star" that gives them the luck needed to be champions, even when they don't deserve it things still go their way. Benfica have it, this goal may have won them the title. It's far too early, but it wouldn't surprise me if in the end of the season we came back to this moment and identified this goal as the key moment of the season.

Sporting returned to winning ways and caught FC Porto in 2nd place. Braga had a chance to go 2 points ahead of the dragons (and just 3 away from Benfica), but they were stopped in Madeira. Instead they were caught by their rivals from Guimarães, who continue having a wonderful season and are now as far from the 6th place as they are from the top! An EL spot seems to be theirs, but can they play an even bigger role this season?

The race for 6th (which should be an EL spot if the Cup is won by one of the top 5, which is likely) is shaping up to be extremely interesting as well. Rio Ave were the favourites before but no longer. They just lost at home against Boavista and dropped to 11th, prompting their fans to ask for Capucho's head. Right now there are no favourites, though I'd be very surprised if Chaves, who just got an interesting away point in Paços de Ferreira, hung on to their current 6th place.

At the bottom, another loss for Tondela reinforces their status as favourites for relegation. I suppose Moreirense and Feirense, who both lost at home, are the next likely ones. Feirense have as many points as EL candidates Rio Ave and Estoril, but they only played 1 of the top 5 teams so far, so they're likely to fall down the table now and probably be below red line by the time we complete the 1st half of the championship.


Table:

1. Benfica 26
2. FC Porto 21
3. Sporting 21
4. Vit. Guimarães 20
5. Braga 20
6. Chaves 14
7. Vit. Setúbal 13
8. Boavista 13
9. Marítimo 13
10. Belenenses 12
11. Rio Ave 11
12. Estoril Praia 11
13. Feirense 11
14. P. Ferreira 10
15. Nacional 8
16. Moreirense 8
17. Arouca 8
18. Tondela 6


Top Scorers:

1. Moussa Marega (Vit. Guimarães) 10
2. André Silva (FC Porto) 7
3. Bas Dost (Sporting) 6
4. Pedro Santos (Braga) 5
4. Francisco Soares (Vit. Guimarães) 5


Assists:

1. Gelson Martins (Sporting) 5
2. João Aurélio (Vit. Guimarães) 4
2. Rafinha (Vit. Guimarães) 4
2. Bryan Ruiz (Sporting) 4



11th Matchday

Vit. Setúbal vs. Rio Ave
Chaves vs. Marítimo
Nacional vs. Estoril Praia
Boavista vs. Sporting
Belenenses vs. FC Porto
Arouca vs. P. Ferreira
Benfica vs. Moreirense
Tondela vs. Vit. Guimarães
Braga vs. Feirense

[Thunder_PT]

League Cup
Group Stage draw


Group A
Sporting
Arouca
Vit. Setúbal
Varzim (II)

Group B
FC Porto
Belenenses
Moreirense
Feirense

Group C
Braga
Rio Ave
Marítimo
Sp. Covilhã (II)

Group D
Benfica
P. Ferreira
Vit. Guimarães
Vizela (II)

[Thunder_PT]

Rio Ave fired Capucho and replaced him with Luís Castro. Castro was coaching Porto B, with whom he was champions in the 2nd tier last season.

[Thunder_PT]

Portuguese Cup
4th Round (Round of 32)

Varzim (Il) 0-1 Sp. Covilhã (Il)
0-1 Harramiz Soares 19'

[Thunder_PT]

Portuguese Cup
4th Round (Round of 32)


Varzim (Il) 0-1 Sp. Covilhã (Il)
0-1 Harramiz Soares 19'

Sporting (I) 5-1 Praiense (III)
0-1 Filipe Andrade 2'
1-1 Paulo Oliveira 21'
2-1 Adrien Silva (pen.) 47'
3-1 Bruno César 62'
4-1 André Filipe 79'
5-1 André Filipe 88'

Chaves (I) 0-0 (pso: 3-2) FC Porto (I)

Sanjoanense (III) 1-0 Gil Vicente (II)
1-0 Ricardo Miranda (o.g.) 28'

Estoril Praia (I) 2-0 Cova da Piedade (II)
1-0 Ailton Silva 21'
2-0 Bruno Gomes 90+1'

Feirense (I) 0-0 (pso: 4-5) Académica (II)

Benfica (I) 6-0 Marítimo (I)
1-0 Franco Cervi 2'
2-0 Pizzi 38'
3-0 Kostas Mitroglou 43'
4-0 Kostas Mitroglou 53'
5-0 Raúl Jiménez (pen.) 69'
6-0 Gonçalo Guedes 88'

Vizela (II) 0-1 Penafiel (II)
0-1 João Paulo 83'

Real (III) 2-0 Olhanense (II)
1-0 Sabry 30'
2-0 Rùben Marques 47'

Benfica Castelo Branco (III) 0-2 Vit. Setúbal (I)
0-1 Thiago Santana 25'
0-2 André Claro (pen.) 27'

Oriental (III) 1-2 (aet) Leixões (II)
1-0 Ernesto Faísca 46'
1-1 Bruno Lamas 53'
1-2 Wei Shihao 108'

Vilafranquense (III) 1-0 P. Ferreira (I)
1-0 Marocas 77'

Torreense (III) 1-0 Nacional (I)
1-0 Pedro Bonifácio 90+1'

Aljustrelense (III) 1-2 Tondela (I)
0-1 Miguel Cardoso 3'
1-1 Tino 14'
1-2 Marcos Santos (o.g.) 18'

Braga (I) 2-1 Santa Clara (II)
0-1 Telmo Castanheira 60'
1-1 Rui Fonte 86'
2-1 Nikola Stojiljković 90'

Boavista (I) 1-2 (aet) Vit. Guimarães (I)
0-1 Tiquinho Soares (pen.) 27'
1-1 André Schembri 56'
1-2 Paolo Hurtado 118'


Surprises all around! FC Porto's fall is the most notorious, but 5 other top flight teams were eliminated, 3 against lower league teams, 2 (P. Ferreira and Nacional) against 3rd tier teams! There was also two 2nd tier teams, Gil Vicente and Olhanense, knocked out by Sanjoanense and Real respectively from the 3rd tier (Real had already shocked Arouca in the previous round, they lead their serious in the 3rd tier, so they seem to be stronger than their tier suggests). We'll thus have a round of 16 where only half of the teams are from the top flight, then 4 from the 2nd tier and 4 (!) from the 3rd tier!

[Thunder_PT]

Pepa was sacked by Moreirense. Inevitable, Moreirense's start of the season was really bad, 2-2-6 in the league and knocked out of the cup by Vizela of the 2nd tier (the only positive thing is that they're still alive in the League Cup, they beat Estoril to reach the group stage). What I don't understand is the timing, there was a national team break, then a Cup weekend where Moreirense were already out, that's plenty of time without competing, perfect for a new coach to start working. I don't see why they waited until 6 days before their next game, which just so happens to be Benfica away. He should have been fired as soon as they lost at home against Vitória Setúbal.

[Thunder_PT]

Cup
Round of 16 draw:


Leixões (II) vs. Tondela (I)
Real (III) vs. Benfica (I)
Estoril Praia (I) vs. Sanjoanense (III)
Torreense (III) vs. Chaves (I)
Braga (I) vs. Sp. Covilhã (II)
Académica (II) vs. Penafiel (II)
Vit. Setúbal (I) vs. Sporting (I)
Vit. Guimarães (I) vs. Vilafranquense (III)

Only one encounter between top flight teams. So at least 1 will go out and 1 2nd tier team will be in the quarters.

[Thunder_PT]

Liga NOS
11th Matchday


Vit. Setúbal 0-1 Rio Ave
0-1 Filipe Augusto 18'
Att: 2.500

Chaves 0-0 Marítimo
Att: 2.431

Nacional 0-1 Estoril Praia
0-1 Aly Ghazal (o.g.) 8'
Att: 1.126

Boavista 0-1 Sporting
0-1 Bas Dost 25'
Att: 9.958

Belenenses 0-0 FC Porto
Att: 6.663

Arouca 1-0 P. Ferreira
1-0 Jorginho 6'
Att: 1.311

Benfica 3-0 Moreirense
1-0 Pizzi 32'
2-0 Pizzi 57'
3-0 Raúl Jiménez 88'
Att: 55.970

Tondela 2-1 Vit. Guimarães
0-1 Tiquinho Soares 75'
1-1 Wagner Borges 84'
2-1 Wagner Borges 85'
Att: 2.002

Braga 6-2 Feirense
1-0 Rui Fonte 8'
1-1 Lazar Rosić (o.g.) 13'
2-1 Ahmed Hassan 22'
3-1 Rui Fonte 42'
4-1 Wilson Eduardo (pen.) 55'
5-1 Wilson Eduardo 60'
5-2 Higor Platiny 65'
6-2 Ricardo Horta 88'
Att:


FC Porto haven't scored since the clássico against Benfica, they played 3 games since (Chaves for the Cup, Kobenhavn for the CL and now Belenenses) and are now 7 points behind Benfica. With the Cup already gone, it's shaping up to be another horrible season. Maybe not, last season we were all writing off Benfica and then we all know how it ended. But I gotta say, last night I was watching the Avellaneda derby between Racing and Independiente. When Cristián Rodríguez came on for Independiente, Lisandro López (who scored 2 goals, btw), now playing for Racing, went to him and greeted him. I almost wanted to cry, seeing them both, and remembering how dominant Porto were in Portugal and how regular they were in the CL when they were at Porto, made me wonder how did we get to this point?

Benfica won comfortably as they were expected to, playing Moreirense at the best possible time, when they had fired their coach and were still led by an interim one. They have since appointed Inácio, btw. Good choice, he did well there in his last spell.

Sporting dealt with an always tough fixture for them, Boavista is their bogey team, and left FC Porto behind.

Braga keep having a very interesting domestic season, blowing Feirense away (and saving this matchday's goal average) and climbing to 3rd over FC Porto. They're going to the Dragao next weekend to defend that position!

Vit. Guimarães could also have overtaken FC Porto, and were about to do so as they led in Tondela, but 2 goals in quick succession turned things around for the biggest surprise of the matchday. Quite incredibly, Tondela made 5 points in 4 games against the top 5 (they didn't play Braga yet) and only 4 points in the remaining 7 games! Again I'll say, this is all good, but they have to improve their form against the smaller sides to survive relegation. This win, though, proves they can go and chase a result, and it'll give them confidence, so they may actually be optimistic now. They left Moreirense behind and Feirense is still expected to fall due to tough fixtures.

A word for Estoril Praia and Rio Ave who both stepped up in the race for 6th getting important away wins.


Table:

1. Benfica 29
2. Sporting 24
3. Braga 23
4. FC Porto 22
5. Vit. Guimarães 20
6. Chaves 15
7. Rio Ave 14
8. Estoril Praia 14
9. Marítimo 14
10. Vit. Setúbal 13
11. Belenenses 13
12. Boavista 13
13. Arouca 11
14. Feirense 11
15. P. Ferreira 10
16. Tondela 9
17. Nacional 8
18. Moreirense 8


Top Scorers:

1. Moussa Marega (Vit. Guimarães) 10
2. Bas Dost (Sporting) 7
2. André Silva (FC Porto) 7


Assists:

1. Gelson Martins (Sporting) 6
2. João Aurélio (V. Guimarães) 4
2. Rafinha (V. Guimarães) 4
2. Bryan Ruiz (Sporting) 4


12th Matchday

Marítimo vs. Benfica
Rio Ave vs. Tondela
Sporting vs. Vit. Setúbal
FC Porto vs. Braga
Feirense vs. Arouca
Moreirense vs. Nacional
Estoril Praia vs. Belenenses
Vit. Guimarães vs. Chaves
P. Ferreira vs. Boavista

[Thunder_PT]

Liga NOS
12th Matchday


Marítimo 2-1 Benfica
1-0 Gevorg Ghazaryan 5'
1-1 Gonçalo Guedes 27'
2-1 Maurício Antônio 69'
Att: 10.320

Rio Ave 3-1 Tondela
1-0 Yazalde 28'
2-0 Gil Dias 61'
2-1 Bruno Monteiro 90+2'
3-1 Filipe Augusto 90+3'
Att: 2.116

Sporting 2-0 Vit. Setúbal
1-0 William Carvalho 7'
2-0 Bruno César 37'
Att: 43.467

FC Porto 1-0 Braga
1-0 Rui Pedro 90+5'
Att: 31.219

Feirense 0-2 Arouca
0-1 Nelsinho 52'
0-2 Walter González 66'
Att: 3.112

Moreirense 3-1 Nacional
1-0 André Micael 31'
2-0 Daniel Podence 53'
3-0 Daniel Podence 84'
3-1 Salvador Agra (pen.) 88'
Att: 1.060

Estoril Praia 1-1 Belenenses
0-1 Abel Camará 75'
1-1 Konstantin Bazelyuk 81'
Att: 1.416

Vit. Guimarães 1-1 Chaves
1-0 Hernâni Fortes 3'
1-1 João Patrão 83'
Att: 14.877

P. Ferreira 2-1 Boavista
1-0 Marco Baixinho 18'
2-0 Welthon 27'
2-1 Renato Santos (pen.) 55'
Att:


Well, well, well! When some people were already calling it, Benfica lose right before the derby. This is one of the toughest stretches of their season, the visit to Marítimo being followed by the derby against Sporting, then they have to visit Estoril and before the end of the 1st half of the season they still have to go to Guimarães. The top of the table looks very interesting now, with Benfica and Sporting only separated by 2 points, and FC Porto able to take advantage of the Lisbon derby to get closer.

Sporting seem to have left their bad period behind and with another win they can take over at the top. Momentum is on their side, but that can change midweek with the European games.

FC Porto finally scored! 530 minutes and 4 goalless draws later, FC Porto scored again! First of all, kudos to the Porto defence, a team that fails to score for that long is very unlikely to come out of it undefeated, and that's what Porto did. Then, to be fair, FC Porto deserved to win almost all of those games, it wasn't for lack of chances that Porto didn't score, they just missed them all. And in this game, the avalanche of chances was even greater and it seemed like it was going to end the same way. From a missed penalty to open goal misses, it was like a curse! Until 18 year-old Rui Pedro, on his debut, broke away and did what the grown ups haven't been able to do for a month, on the 5th of 7 added minutes (perfectly justifiable). Hollywood-like stuff! On a side note, Braga had a player sent off for fouling a player in the box that was going 1-on-1 against Casillas, this is against the new rules and none of the commentators seemed to remember.

Vitória de Guimarães dropped points at home against sensational Chaves and missed yet another opportunity to climb to the top 4. They seem comfortable in 5th, but haven't shown they have what it takes to really threaten Braga.

The race for 6th continues very interesting, with Rio Ave getting his 2nd win in just as many games since changing coaches and occupying the position. Marítimo made a statement by beating Benfica, while Estoril was left behind after a disappointing home draw. Chaves is still in the middle of it, how long can they hang on?

As for the relegation battle, Nacional hit rock bottom. Literally, they're now bottom of the table after being beaten by Moreirense. I still can't imagine Nacional being relegated, but something's gotta change. I understand Manuel Machado deserves more patience for his past at the club, but this is well beyond tolerance, Nacional have been subpar for far too long, since well before this season! Tondela are the other team below the red line after losing in Vila do Conde, but the biggest losers of the round were probably Feirense who lost at home against Arouca. I've tipped them as favourites for relegation when they seemed safe in the first half of the table, predicting they'd fall after going through tought fixtures until the half point of the season. Well, this game against Arouca was one of the most winnable ones and they blew it too. Their next 5 games: FC Porto (H), Marítimo (A), P. Ferreira (H), Sporting (A) and Vit. Guimarães (H).


Table:

1. Benfica 29
2. Sporting 27
3. FC Porto 25
4. Braga 23
5. Vit. Guimarães 21
6. Rio Ave 17
7. Marítimo 17
8. Chaves 16
9. Estoril Praia 15
10. Belenenses 14
11. Arouca 14
12. P. Ferreira 13
13. Boavista 13
14. Vit. Setúbal 13
15. Moreirense 11
16. Feirense 11
17. Tondela 9
18. Nacional 8


Top Scorers:
1. Moussa Marega (Vit. Guimarães) 10
2. Bas Dost (Sporting) 7
2. André Silva (FC Porto) 7

Assists:
1. Gelson Martins (Sporting) 7
2. João Aurélio (V. Guimarães) 4
2. Rafinha (V. Guimarães) 4
2. Bryan Ruiz (Sporting) 4


13th Matchday

Vit. Setúbal vs. Estoril Praia
Belenenses vs. Marítimo
Chaves vs. Moreirense
Boavista vs. Vit. Guimarães
Nacional vs. Tondela
Feirense vs. FC Porto
Benfica vs. Sporting
Braga vs. P. Ferreira
Arouca vs. Rio Ave

[Thunder_PT]

Liga NOS
13th Matchday


Vit. Setúbal 2-0 Estoril Praia
1-0 João Amaral 33'
2-0 Edinho 50'
Att: 2.754

Belenenses 1-0 Marítimo
1-0 Gerso Fernandes 28'
Att: 2.159

Chaves 2-1 Moreirense
1-0 Willian Oliveira 16'
1-1 Emmanuel Boateng 33'
2-1 Rafael Lopes 90+1'
Att: 2.184

Boavista 1-2 Vit. Guimarães
0-1 David Teixeira 3'
1-1 Philipe Sampaio 5'
1-2 Paolo Hurtado 68'
Att: 4.699

Feirense 0-4 FC Porto
0-1 André Silva (pen.) 4'
0-2 Yacine Brahimi 33'
0-3 Iván Marcano 50'
0-4 André Silva 67'
Att: 4.635

Nacional 3-2 Tondela
0-1 Wagner Borges 23'
0-2 Miguel Cardoso 30'
1-2 Kaká (o.g.) 62'
2-2 César 65'
3-2 Kaká (o.g.) 89'
Att: 1.192

Benfica 2-1 Sporting
1-0 Eduardo Salvio 25'
2-0 Raúl Jiménez 48'
2-1 Bas Dost 69'
Att: 63.312

Braga 3-0 P. Ferreira
1-0 Rui Fonte 16'
2-0 Ricardo Horta 23'
3-0 Rui Fonte 65'
Att: 7.543

Arouca 0-2 Rio Ave
0-1 Nelsinho (o.g.) 89'
0-2 Ronan Jerônimo 90+3'
Att:


So Benfica won the derby and took off once again, now enjoying a 4 point lead. A weird game where Sporting dominated for longer periods than Benfica and created more chances, but again couldn't win. This has happened far too many times to Sporting this season, they keep colecting "moral victories" in tough games, yet losing them all. At some point, they'll have to do better with those sitters they create than shooting straight at the keeper.

As for Benfica, well, they used another get out of jail free card (how many of those do they have?). How they left the Dragão with a point, they're still not sure, and now they've won this one without truly deserving it. There are 2 clichés about being champions that are very true: 1) you don't win the league by beating the strongest teams, you win it by dropping the least amount of points against everyone else; 2) there are no champions without luck. Benfica have both. They're the most regular team against the small teams and, when they should have been beaten in the big games, they were lucky enough. They were also exposed in the CL, twice by Napoli and by Besiktas in that infamous 2nd half. They've looked bad against almost every big team they faced, especially the defence. Nélson Semedo is exciting going forward, but how many times has he been beaten in big games? Luisão has always been limited and Lindelöf seems like a bad clone of his past self (some Benfica fans have started a petition to take him to a barber, they believe the longer his hair grows the worst he plays, they want him bald again). Goalkeeper Ederson has been their saviour, once again the man of the match.

FC Porto, after what seemed like an eternity without scoring, now scored 9 in 2 games. The game became easier when André Silva was fouled in the box and the culprit was sent off. Again, did the new rules not reach Portugal? In the end, comfortable win and Porto overtake Sporting. Feirense are in free fall and are now below the red line.

Braga redeemed themselves from the EL elimination with a 3-0 over P. Ferreira, protecting their 4th place from rivals Vitória Guimarães who beat Boavista away (a clássico, always a tough game) 1-2 just like they did for the Cup. Paços de Ferreira and Boavista are now only 2 points above the relegation zone.

In the battle for 6th, Rio Ave keep setting the pace with their 3rd win in 3 games since hiring Luís Castro as coach. This time they beat fellow European (disappointment) Arouca thanks to a couple of 11th hour goals. Chaves keep getting the results they need to stay in the top half while Marítimo and Estoril Praia were left behind being beaten and overtaken by Belenenses and Vitória Setúbal respectively.

In the relegation battle, Nacional were about to hit rock bottom as they were losing against Tondela, but managed to turn it around, thanks to a couple of own goals by Kaká (against defenders like this, who needs strikers?). They can breath a little better, having caught Feirense and Moreirense on points, but they have to do much more, this isn't their place. Tondela are last once again.


Table:

1. Benfica 32
2. FC Porto 28
3. Sporting 27
4. Braga 26
5. Vit. Guimarães 24
6. Rio Ave 20
7. Chaves 19
8. Belenenses 17
9. Marítimo 17
10. Vit. Setúbal 16
11. Estoril Praia 15
12. Arouca 14
13. Boavista 13
14. P. Ferreira 13
15. Nacional 11
16. Moreirense 11
17. Feirense 11
18. Tondela 9


Top Scorers:

1. Moussa Marega (Vit. Guimarães) 10
2. André Silva (FC Porto) 9
3. Bas Dost (Sporting) 8


Assists:

1. Gelson Martins (Sporting) 7
2. Wilson Eduardo (Braga) 5
3. Raphinha (Vit. Guimarães) 4
3. João Aurélio (Vit. Guimarães) 4
3. Bryan Ruiz (Sporting) 4


14th Matchday

P. Ferreira vs. Belenenses
Moreirense vs. Arouca
Estoril Praia vs. Benfica
Rio Ave vs. Nacional
Tondela vs. Boavista
Vit. Guimarães vs. Vit. Setúbal
Sporting vs. Braga
Marítimo vs. Feirense
FC Porto vs. Chaves

Before this matchday, we'll have the Cup's Round of 16 midweek while FC Porto will host Marítimo in a game from the 15th matchday, probably so both teams can give their players a longer Christmas break.

[Thunder_PT]

Portuguese Cup
Round of 16


Leixões (II) 2-1 Tondela (I)
1-0 Chiquinho 22'
1-1 Érick Moreno 39'
2-1 Wellington 51'
Att: 1.500

Torreense (III) 2-3 Chaves (I)
1-0 Pedro Bonifácio 34'
1-1 Perdigão 44'
1-2 Fábio Martins 58'
2-2 Leandro Freire (o.g.) 90'
2-3 Rodrigo Battaglia (pen.) 90+9'
Att: 2.000

Estoril Praia (I) 4-2 (aet) Sanjoanense (III)
0-1 André Pereira 9'
1-1 Bruno Gomes 57'
1-2 Rúben Neves (pen.) 67'
2-2 Konstantin Bazelyuk 80'
3-2 Konstantin Bazelyuk 113'
4-2 Bruno Gomes 117'
Att: 597

Académica (II) 1-0 Penafiel (II)
1-0 Ernest Ohemeng 88'

Real (III) 0-3 Benfica (I)
0-1 Kostas Mitroglou 47'
0-2 Kostas Mitroglou (pen.) 81'
0-3 Raúl Jiménez 85'
Att: 6.000

Braga (I) 1-2 Sp. Covilhã (II)
1-0 Wilson Eduardo 3'
1-1 Boubakary Diarra 28'
1-2 Davidson Pereira 65'
Att: 2.702

Vit. Setúbal (I) 0-1 Sporting (I)
0-1 Bas Dost 75'
Att: 4.993

Vit. Guimarães (I) 1-0 Vilafranquense (III)
1-0 Paolo Hurtado 61'


Huge surprise in Braga (which already prompted the Minho club to fire José Peseiro)*, minor surprise in Matosinhos and we have 3 2nd tier teams in the quarters! Kudos to all 4 tier 3 teams who all made things tough to their top flight opponents.


*Peseiro was fired despite the good league campaign so far, which shows Braga's ambitions in the other competitions. It's the first time Braga didn't get out of their EL group and with this Cup elimination, at home to Covilhã, there was no hesitation.

Chaves' coach Jorge Simão is the favourite to take over. Good choice, he's done well where he's been in the top flight so far (securring Belenenses' EL qualification 2 seasons ago, taking over 9 matches from the end after Vidigal's dismissal for nobody knows why, good season last season at Paços de Ferreira, ending 1 point short of EL qualification, and good job at Chaves this season, sitting 7th with a team that were expected to fight against relegation), and more like the kind of manager that brought success to Braga in the last few years.

[Thunder_PT]

Liga NOS
15th Matchday (reschedulled game)


FC Porto 2-1 Marítimo
1-0 Yacine Brahimi 45'
2-0 André Silva 67'
2-1 Donald Djoussé 85'
Att: 22.200


Good win for Porto, Brahimi is onfire, scored one and assisted the other. Djoussé put an end to a loooooong time without conceding for FC Porto. FC Porto are now temporarily closer to Benfica, one point away (having played one more game) and André Silva caught Moussa Marega, who's been suspended, at the top of the scorers table.

[SteffenM]

I heard some clubs, Porto in particular having some problems with the economy.

Do you think we will see big sales this transfer window?

[Thunder_PT]

I heard some clubs, Porto in particular having some problems with the economy.

Do you think we will see big sales this transfer window?

Porto sell every summer (and usually never in winter), but this past summer they didn't make any big money sales. The official reason was that they made an extra effort to keep player and have a stronger squad to get the title back. More likely, they just weren't happy with the offers they received.

They do need to make money, though, as they lost money over the last 3 seasons, which is against FFP rules. A such, and unlike Porto usually do in January, I do expect a big sale. It won't be anyone who Nuno consider important, it'll be someone expensive enough to make a difference financially, but not important to the squad enough that it'd make a difference there as well. With that in mind, I'm thinking Hector Herrera. He lost his status as starter but is still one of the most valuable players in the marketplace, so if a good offer comes, I can see Porto selling.

Other than that, Porto might want to get rid of some dead weigh like Depoitre or João Carlos Teixeira (this last one should be loaned).