28 August 2006, by Sean Gillen

Portuguese Abroad Weekly Round-up

Figo heroics earn Inter spectacular Supercup win

The most remarkable result of the weekend came as Luis Figo’s Inter came from three goals down to defeat Roma 4-3 in the Italian Supercup. Figo scored the winner himself, after two goals from Patrick Vieira and a Hernan Crespo strike had drawn the Nerazurri level.

Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea got back on track after their midweek defeat at Middlesbrough, Paulo Ferreira and Ricardo Carvalho starting as The Blues won 2-0 at Blackburn. Cristiano Ronaldo’s Manchester United remain top in England, however, and Ronaldo started as they kept up their 100% record in the opening stages of the season with a away victory over Watford.

Everton have made an impressive start to the new campaign, although their 2-0 win at Tottenham came without Nuno Valente, who was absent through injury. Ricardo Vaz Te played the last 20 minutes as Bolton stumbled to a 2-0 loss at Charlton. There was happier news for Luis Boa Morte, with the Fulham captain helping his side to a much-needed 1-0 win over Sheffield United.

In Spain, Barcelona, with Deco, slumped to a shock 3-0 defeat against Sevilla in the European Supercup on Friday evening. The Catalans begin the defence of their La Liga title against Celta Vigo on Monday. Big-spending Valencia were without Miguel and left Hugo Viana on the bench for the duration of their 1-0 win over Betis. Atletico Madrid handed a first start to Costinha as they got off to a perfect start, beating Racing Santander 1-0 away from home. Ze Castro remained on the bench for Atletico.

In France, familiar problems at Paris Saint Germain, with captain Pauleta carrying the fight almost single-handedly. The Azorean hitman scored twice in five minutes to rescue a two-goal deficit against Sochaux, only to see his side concede a winning goal with ten minutes left to play. Beto missed Bordeaux’s 3-0 defeat at title-challengers Lille. Tiago was again on top form as Lyon crushed Nice 4-1 away from home to move joint-top of Le Championat.

It was a largely unhappy week for the Portuguese contingent in the Bundesliga. Fernando Meira was in the Stuttgart side beaten 3-1 at home by Dortmund, while Hugo Almeida’s Bremen went down 2-0 at Schalke and Alex watched from the bench as Wolfsburg relied on an own goal to draw at Leverkusen. Ze Antonio was the only happy Portuguese in Germany this weekend, with the defender part of the Gladbach backline which kept a clean sheet in the 1-0 win over Arminia Bielefeld.

Hearts put their midweek Champions League elimination behind them with a 4-1 win over Inverness Caledonian Thistle. Midfielder Bruno Aguiar scored the fourth for Hearts having come off the bench, while Tiago Costa started in defence for his club debut.

Standard Liege’s poor start to the new Jupiler League in Belgium continued with a disappointing 1-1 home draw against Zulte-Waregem. Nuno Coelho, Rogerio Matias and Sa Pinto all started the game for Standard, who relied on an 86th minute penalty from Jovanovic to earn a point. Standard are now third from bottom after picking up just two points from four games.

Dynamo Moscow earned a much-needed home win over Tom in the Russian Premier League, with the result moving Dynamo up to 15th in the league. Steaua Bucharest enjoyed a comfortable 3-0 win over Farul in Romania, with Portuguese goalkeeper Carlos enjoying a clean sheet. Despite four wins and one draw from their opening five games, Steaua sit 3rd in the Romanian league after five rounds.

Star Performer

Luis Figo

The evergreen Portuguese winger inspired Inter to a stirring comeback to win the Italian Supercup in spectacular fashion after being three goals down. Figo capped a marvellous individual display by converting a free-kick in extra time to seal a 4-3 triumph against Roma.

Earlier round-ups:
21/08/06 Star Performer - Deco