21 August 2006, by Sean Gillen

Portuguese Abroad Weekly Round-up

Portuguese talents make their mark across Europe

The 2006/07 season is fully underway now for most of Portugal’s European-based stars, with the Premiership now up and running and Barcelona back in competitive action.

This weekend was a largely successful start for the English-based representatives, while Deco added another trophy to his cabinet and Pauleta and Fernando Meira got on the scoresheet in France and Germany, respectively.

Deco and Barcelona added to the silverware they picked up last summer with a 4-0 aggregate win over Espanyol in the Spanish Supercup. The former Porto man scored twice in the 3-0 home leg win at the Nou Camp on Sunday evening, with Xavi heading the third. Barcelona begin the defence of their La Liga title next Sunday at home to Osasuna.

Premiership joy

The new Premiership season got under way on Saturday, with the Portuguese contingent having a largely successful opening day. All eyes were on Cristiano Ronaldo at Old Trafford as Manchester United took on Fulham, and the 21-year-old was on form in an emphatic 5-1 win, although it meant an unhappy afternoon for Fulham captain Luis Boa Morte. Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea also got off to a convincing start, with Paulo Ferreira and Ricardo Carvalho keeping a clean sheet in a 3-0 win over Manchester City.

Ricardo Vaz Te started the season in the Bolton line-up, and the 19-year-old won many plaudits for his hard-working display on the left flank during his side’s 2-0 win over Tottenham. Nuno Valente’s Everton also began the season with a win, but the former Porto full-back had to leave the pitch injured after just 49 minutes of his side’s 2-1 win over Watford. Portsmouth beat much-fancied Blackburn 3-0, with Pedro Mendes playing the full 90 minutes for Pompey.

Former Benfica midfielder Bruno Aguiar’s Hearts suffered a bad afternoon in the Scottish Premier league, losing 2-0 at Rangers. Hearts play the second half of their Champions League qualifier away at AEK Athens on Wednesday, trailing 2-1 from the first leg.

Pauleta opens account

In France, Pedro Pauleta scored a 50th minute winner for Paris Saint Germain against title contenders, Lille. Champions Lyon recorded an impressive win at last season’s runners-up, Bordeaux, with Tiago putting in an excellent first performance of the season. Former Sporting defender Beto did not feature for Bordeaux.

Fernando Meira got a rare goal for Stuttgart, the defender scoring the first in Stuttgart’s 3-2 win at Arminia Bielefield. Hugo Almeida continues to impress in Germany, and he scored the winner for Werder Bremen in their 2-1 victory over Leverkusen. Defender Ze Antonio was selected for Borussia Monchengladbach’s 1-0 loss at Nurenburg while full-back Alex Domingos watched Wolfsburg’s 0-0 draw at Frankfurt from the bench.

After last season’s disappointment of just losing out on the league title, Standard continued their slow start to the new Belgian Jupiler League with a 1-1 draw at Racing Genk. Rogerio Matias and Sa Pinto played the full 90 minutes for Standard, who have now taken just one point from their opening three games.

In Russia, Danny played for Dinamo Moscow in their 2-1 win at bottom-placed Shinnik, a result which does not change their position of being in second-from-last in the Russian league. Former Porto striker Derlei scored the all-important winner in the 88th minute. Carlos kept goal for Steaua Bucharest as his side beat Vaslui 3-1 to move up to 4th in the Romanian league after four rounds.

Star Performer

Deco

After the success of last season, many have installed Barcelona as favourites for all competitions in the new campaign. Portuguese international Deco appears to be warming up nicely for next week’s La Liga opening. The former Porto playmaker scoring twice to help Barca claim the Spanish Supercup.

2005/06 Round-ups