What is RSS?

3 September 2007, by Sean Gillen

   Portuguese abroad weekly roundup

     England     France     Germany     Italy     Spain    Others

England - Premiership

Chelsea beaten

Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea suffered their first defeat of the season after losing 2-0 at Aston Villa on Sunday afternoon. The Portuguese coach was without centre-half Ricardo Carvalho and left out right-back Paulo Ferreira, handing full debuts to Brazilians Alex and Belletti in defence.

Meanwhile, Manchester United secured their second win in succession after an unconvincing 1-0 victory over Sunderland at Old Trafford. Nani played the full ninety minutes for the Red Devils, while Cristiano Ronaldo sat out the final game of his three-match suspension.

Pedro Mendes played for Portsmouth in the south-coast side’s 3-1 defeat at Arsenal, while Ricardo Rocha was in the Tottenham backline as the Londoners threw away two separate two-goal leads to draw 3-3 at Fulham.

Luis Boa Morte came on for the final minute as West Ham impressed in a 3-0 win at Wigan, while Nuno Valente was not involved in Everton’s 2-1 victory over Bolton, who were without Ricardo Vaz Te.

     England     France     Germany     Italy     Spain    Others

France - Ligue 1

PSG held

Paris Saint-Germain were held to a 1-1 draw at the Parc Des Princes by arch-rivals Marseille on Sunday evening. Pedro Pauleta was again on the bench for the hosts, only coming on for the final ten minutes.

Marco Ramos played entire match as Lens lost 1-0 at Nice, leaving them second from bottom in the French topflight.

     England     France     Germany     Italy     Spain    Others

Germany - Bundesliga

Stuttgart’s poor start

Champions Stuttgart’s poor start to the new season continued as Fernando Meira captained the side to a 1-0 defeat at Karlsruhe, leaving them with four points from a possible twelve so far this season.

Hugo Almeida played from the start for Werder Bremen against Frankfurt, with the 2004 Bundesliga champions winning 2-1 at home. Alex was not involved in Wolfsburg’s defeat at Hertha Berlin, while Sergio Pinto was an unused substitute in Hannover’s 3-2 victory over Bochum.

     England     France     Germany     Italy     Spain    Others

Italy - Serie A

Costinha makes winning debut

Tiago’s uneasy start to life in Italy continued as the midfielder was dropped for Juventus’ 3-2 win at Cagliari on Sunday afternoon. Jorge Andrade did play in central defence for the Bianconeri, who made it two wins from two in Serie A.

Luis Figo came on as a 73rd minute substitute as Italian champions Inter picked up their first win of the season, 2-0 at Empoli. Early leaders Roma did not call up Antunes to make his debut as the side from the capital swept aside Siena 3-0 at the Olimpico.

Costinha got off to a winning start at new club Atalanta, playing for over an hour in his side’s 2-0 win over Parma, who left Fernando Couto on the bench. Jose Vidigal came on early in the second half as Livorno were beaten 4-2 at home by Palermo.

     England     France     Germany     Italy     Spain    Others

Spain - La Liga

Barcelona at awesome best

Barcelona returned to their brilliant best with their first win of the season, 3-1 at home against Athletic Bilbao. Deco started the game for Barca, who at times displayed some breathtaking football at the Nou Camp.

Recreativo were denied a win at Getafe after a 93rd minute equaliser earned the home side a point. Carlos Martins started for Recrea, while Silvestre Varela came on as a substitute 20 minutes from time and Roberto Beto was left on the bench.

Marco Caneira was preferred to Miguel at right-back for Valencia as Los Ches responded to their defeat in week one with a 2-1 victory at Almeira, while Ricardo kept goal for Betis in their 2-2 home draw with Espanyol.

Atletico Madrid are still searching for their first win of the season after Los Rojinblancos were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Mallorca. Maniche and Simao both started for Atletico, while Jose Nunes was in the visitors’ defence.

     England     France     Germany     Italy     Spain    Others

Others

Cyprus

---

Greece

Jose Peseiro’s first league game in charge of Panathinaikos saw his side draw 0-0 at home with city rivals and champions Olympiakos on Sunday evening.

Former Sporting striker Lourenco came on at half time in Panionios’ 0-0 draw at Aris Saloniki, and was then taken off again with ten minutes left to play. Daniel Fernandes was in goal as PAOK lost 1-0 at Xanthi.

Holland

Manuel da Costa continued his slow return to action after a busy summer by taking his place on the bench as Dutch champions PSV were held to a 0-0 draw at Twente.

Poland

Champions Zaglebie Lubin were beaten 2-0 at home by Legia Warsaw on Friday evening, with Portuguese defender Tiago Gomes scoring an own goal for the hosts. Rui Miguel came on as a second half substitute for Zaglebie, who trailed through Gomes’ 16th minute own goal until Legia sealed the win in the final minute.

Romania

Ricardo Cadu scored for CFR Cluj as his team moved up to third in the Romanian Liga with a 2-1 home victory over Ceahlaul Piatra Neamt. Tony, Cadu, Dani and Antonio Semedo all started for Cluj, while Manuel Jose and Amoreirinha came on as late substitutes.

Bruno Simao and Edson da Silva both started UTA Arad’s 3-2 home defeat to Politehnica Timisoara.

Russia

Dynamo Moscow remain outsiders for the Russian title after a 3-1 home win over Tom Tomsk kept them within six points of the leaders. Danny played the full ninety minutes for Dynamo, while Cicero was a 61st minute substitute and Custodio was left on the bench.

Scotland

Pedro Moutinho played the full ninety minutes as his Falkirk side went down to a 2-0 defeat at Dundee United. Filipe Morais was not called from the bench for Hibernian’s 1-0 home victory against Inverness. Hearts, with Jose Goncalves and Bruno Aguiar, play Motherwell on Monday.

Serbia

Partizan Belgrade made it four wins from four in the Serbian Super Liga after a 1-0 win at OFK Belgrade on Sunday, with Almani Moreira playing the full match for the early leaders.

Switzerland

FC Basel remain in second place in Switzerland after a 2-1 home win over FC Thun. Carlitos started, but was taken off on 64 minutes, for Basel while Nelson Ferreira played the full match for Thun. FC Luzern meet FC Sion on Monday evening.

Turkey

Konyaspor are still looking for their first league win of the season after a 2-2 home draw with Denizlispor. Portuguese midfielder Neca started for Konya and opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the first half, while defender Ze Gomes came on as a substitute.

Star Performer

Ricardo Cadu (CFR Cluj)

The 25-year-old Portuguese, who finished 4th in a vote of the best central defenders playing in Romania last season, was on the scoresheet to help his team to a 2-1 victory. Cluj, with ten Portuguese players in their squad, are looking to mount a serious championship challenge this season and have started well. They currently lie third in the league.

Earlier Round-ups