18 September 2006, by Marco Pereira

All square in Coimbra battle

Academica 1-1 Belenenses

Academica and Belenenses played out a 1-1 draw on Sunday afternoon. A game of just desserts as both teams recorded an equal number of goals, yellow cards and red cards, as each team had a man sent off.

The first minute was a sign of things to come as the first yellow was awarded to Nivaldo for obstructing Miguel Pedro from running down the flank.

In the 11th minute Academica got on the scoreboard with a Gelson goal. The Brazilian himself started the move as he combined with Helder Barbosa on the left wing. Barbosa got past Belenenses defender Amaral and crossed the ball to the near post where Gelson tucked it away past Belenenses goalkeeper, Costinha.

Just three minutes later Gelson received a yellow card for unsportsmanlike behaviour by attempting to fool the official into awarding a penalty. Academica then poured forward and Miguel Pedro covered every blade of grass on the pitch sending crosses into the box, but Belenenses and the astute Rolando foiled the home side.

Roma save

Belenenses responded with an opportunity of their own in the 22nd minute and left winger Ze Pedro fired a missile of a shot obliging Academica goalkeeper Pedro Roma to be at his best to keep it out.

Six minutes later Manoel went close, but Belenenses finally got a deserved equaliser in the 38th minute as Ze Pedro took a corner kick from the right and an unmarked Nivaldo made no mistake to make the score 1-1.

The second half started off with a bang as Candido Costa picked up his second yellow for a deliberate foul on Helder Barbosa. The sending off breathed life into Academica as they began to dictate play, with the best opportunity coming for Gyano as he saw his shot saved brilliantly by Costinha.

In the 64th minute Gelson was handed his second yellow card for deliberately attempting to score with his hand, and both sides were down to 10 men. The last good opportunity came in the 89th minute from the feet of Gyano, but his weak shot was easily saved by Costinha.

Academica coach Manuel Machado bemoaned his team’s finishing in a match he feels they could have won: “Academica took the initiative, took the lead and wanted to win. We suffered a goal from a dead ball situation, but did not become disorganised.”

“In the second half we had three or four chances to get another goal, but our finishing was poor and because of that we must accept the result. Yet if the score was 3-1 to Academica that would have been just as we were the only team who wanted to win the game.”

Belenenses coach Jorge Jesus had a different point of view as to who should have won, but pointed to his players’ exhaustion as the reason for his team not winning.

“It was difficult for Belenenses. In the first half things happened that we were not prepared for. Amaral, Fernando and Roma all suffered minor injuries and I had to make alterations because of fitness aspects, not strategic ones.”

“We were tired. Under these conditions the result is just, but if there was a team that did more to win, it was Belenenses.”

Academica:
Pedro Roma, Sonkaya, Litos, Medeiros, Lino (Nestor Alvarez, 77), Roberto Brum (Filipe Teixeira, 74), Milos Pavlovic, Miguel Pedro (Raul Estevez, 57), Gelson, Helder Barbosa, Gyano
Yellow Cards: Gelson (14), Helder Barbosa (75), Nestor Alvarez (77)
Red Cards: Gelson (64)

Belenenses:
Costinha, Amaral (Manoel, 26), Nivaldo, Rolando, Rodrigo Alvim, Rueben Amorim, Ze Pedro, Silas, Candido Costa, Roma (Djurdjevic, 63), Fernando (Gaspar, 52)
Yellow Cards: Nivaldo (1), Candido Costa (45), Silas (72)
Red cards: Candido Costa (46)

Goals:
[1-0] Gelson, 11
[1-1] Nivaldo, 38