Portuguese football thread

Good stuff

 

What an end to the half. :smiley-laughing002:

 

Crazy challenge at the end of the half there

 

Should have been a red.

 

Good first half I always enjoy Porto V Benfica games :smiley-laughing002:

 

Maxi Pereira :smiley-laughing002:

 

The Portuguese league's version of Mo Johnston :smiley-laughing002:

 

Porto 1-0

 

Nélson Semedo vs Atlético de Madrid:




21y old, replaced Maxi Pereira as RB after his move to Porto.

Don't know how things are done in Scotland but B teams playing in portuguese second division is probably the most positive thing done for portuguese football in the last decade. Benfica B is a mix of youth players who climbed the ranks, cheap talented (sometimes) foreigners and young portuguese players from the secondary divisions. Nelson Semedo played for Sintrense (4th division) in 2012. Examples of other players who benefited from second league football were Bernardo Silva (Mónaco), Ivan Cavaleiro (Mónaco), André Gomes (Valência), João Cancelo (Valência), Gonçalo Guedes (Benfica) and Deyverson (Levante, signed from Mangaratibense in 2012). B teams solved the biggest problem portuguese players were facing - the transition from youth to senior football.

The bet in Rui Vitória (who substituted Jorge Jesus) was so we could finally see this players in Benfica main squad instead of Mónaco, Valência or Zenit. But in the end of the day, this leap of faith was only possible due to the amount of talent among portuguese players nowadays. Rúben Neves (Porto) is one to watch, for example.






On another note, Jorge Jesus contract was leaked. He earns 5M€/y before taxes + bonuses. Winning the league will earn him 2M€ more. He won the supercup, so that's +200k€. Winning the Europa League 1M€ (but there are bonuses for reaching the others stages). All and all, if he manages to repeat a season like some he had in Benfica, Sporting will pay him around 8M€ before taxes. If he fails miserably, "only" 5M€.

https://yadi.sk/d/U68U8rpbjQtVd

Other leaked documents show that Sporting are using an angolan club, Recreativo da Caála, to finance all this expensive moves. A bit odd for a club that has been advocating for the funds extinction. Angolan money is even shadier.

There's a great number of documents related to portuguese football being leaked. The site is in portuguese but some documents are in english and sometimes you can connect the dots by reading the name of the clubs and fees, even if the rest is in portuguese. If anyone wants to take a look: http://football-leaks.livejournal.com/

 

Lisbon Derby today on Bt Sport 2 starting soon

 

Overs

 

Looking forward to this should be a good game



Benfica
Júlio César, Sílvio, Luisão, Jardel, André Almeida, Eliseu, A. Samaris, N. Gaitán, Goncalo Guedes, Jonas, R. Jiménez.
Subs: Ederson Moraes, L. López, Pizzi, Talisca, L. Fejsa, K. Mitroglou, Victor Andrade.



Sporting
Rui Patrício, Paulo Oliveira, Naldo, João Pereira, Jefferson, João Mário, William Carvalho, Adrien Silva, I. Slimani, B. Ruiz, T. Gutiérrez.

Subs: Marcelo Boeck, Ricardo Esgaio, Tobias Figueiredo, A. Aquilani, Gelson Martins, Matheus Pereira, F. Montero.

 

Sporting 1-0 up shocking from Cesar in goal

 

2-0 Sporting

 

Overs and out

 

3-0 Sporting with 37 minutes played

 

The team isn't playing THAT bad, but I'm not a fan of moral victories. In any other period in Benfica history, I would expect heads to roll. Nowadays... not really. Sílvio, André Almeida and Eliseu would struggle to start in most portuguese teams. Silvio is playing 'cause of Nelson Semedo injury, but Almeida and Eliseu are first options since Enzo Perez and Siqueira left. No excuses possible apart from the lack of investiment. The only defender getting the ball forward was Nelson Semedo, no one else can do it. Reminds me of Fábio Coentrão's last season, where it was pretty much him + 10. Inexcusable.

0-3 at HT, let's see where this ends. Samaris won't last much more in the pitch imo, he's really nervous and will probably see a red card soon. Unfortunately I'm guessing even a huge defeat won't change anything. Rui Vitória is too much of a yes man to demand the 2 full backs and 2 center midfielders the squad is lacking.

 

Benfica - Porto tonight, if anyone's interested. Benfica is in an 11 consecutive victories run, recovered 11 points to Porto and 8 to Sporting and currently leads the table. Porto has to win the game in order to stay in the race after sacking Lopetegui (José Peseiro, who led Sporting to the UEFA Cup final in 04/05, is their new manager).

1. Benfica - 52 points (+45 goals)
2. Sporting - 52 points (+29 goals)
3. Porto - 46 points (+27 goals)

Most likely starting 11s:
Benfica - Júlio César, A. Almeida, Lindelof, Jardel, Eliseu, Pizzi, Renato Sanches, Samaris, Nico Gaitán, Jonas and Mitroglou.
Porto - Casillas, Maxi, Danilo, Martins Indi, Layun, André André, Ruben Neves, Herrera, Corona, Brahimi and Aboubakar.

a) Both defences are lacking some important players.
b) Jonas is the top scorer (23 goals) and is only behind Higuaín for the golden boot (Higuaín 24 goals, Jonas 23, Aubameyang & Suárez 20).

I predict some goals in a match that can go either way (they're always a dangerous team to face).

 

Renato Sanches promotion to the first squad was probably the main problem solver of a team that got his confidence back and is scoring for fun (59 goals in 21 games, best average of the last decades). We really needed a midfielder who could bring the ball forward, like Enzo Perez did before him.

According to the portuguese press, Benfica's president rejected 50M€ for him already and Man. Utd is willing to pay 40M€ + 20M€ in objectives. Renato Sanches also made the front cover in today's As.


Benfica youth investiment is paying off big time but I'd rather have him here for more 3 or 4 years while paying him 5M€/y or something like that. Almost an impossibility, however... We could have an homegrown midfield consisting of André Gomes (Valência), Renato Sanches and Bernardo Silva (Mónaco), had we the capacity to hold them for longer periods.






In other news, André Carrillo signed for Benfica. Nicknamed "La Culebra" was probably Sporting's most talented player (I really rate João Mário as well). Carrillo had 6 months left in his contract and Sporting was willing to pay him 3M€/y using some offshores. The player and his agent were tired of Sporting's president Bruno de Carvalho tactics, however. Carrillo was isolated from the rest of the squad early this season. This is the third big move in portuguese football in the last 12 months:

Maxi Pereira, Benfica -> Porto
Jorge Jesus, Benfica -> Sporting
André Carrillo, Sporting -> Benfica

 

Yeah I fancy goals in this one as well. Going over 2.5 goals at 5-4