With the title race in full swing, Matchday 21 in the Liga NOS gave us the chance to see some of the latest acquisitions in action up and down the country. Few will have been as excited as the Belenenses fans after their 11th hour capture of Colombian international Abel Aguilar, contacted via WhatsApp to join the club and making his debut days later versus second placed Benfica.
Across the city of Lisbon, Sporting hosted Rio Ave in the final game of the week and welcomed some new faces themselves. The ex-Liverpool defender Sebastian Coates, on loan from Sunderland, made his eagerly awaited first appearance for the club, whereas Hernán Barcos came straight in to the first team to sit on the substitutes’ bench.
By now, FC Porto’s winter signings are very much yesterday’s news but the new identity being built by José Peseiro, whose side have scored six goals in their last two games, will have offered enough intrigue as to how far this current crop can still go in the title race, starting with their home fixture against Arouca on Sunday night.
Belenenses 0-5 Benfica
Having seen his Benfica squad rack up the most goals in the Liga NOS this season (54), manager Rui Vitória would have been licking his lips ahead of their visit to the Estádio do Restelo to face Belenenses, currently the leakiest defence in the league. The away side, cheered on by a very strong following, looked to find themselves in pole position straight from the off but Nico Gaitan wasted a very good opportunity to open the scoring one minute into the game. The vice-captain was found unmarked inside the box by a Pizzi’s cut-back but could only steer the shot wide on his favoured left foot.
Adamant to get the early goal, high pressure from Benfica forced Belenenses’ goalkeeper Hugo Ventura into gifting the ball to Jonas, but the prolific Brazilian mirrored the favour by hitting a very tame effort back into the shot-stopper’s path from outside the area.
Belenenses managed to weather the storm throughout most of the first half but Ventura’s torrid display continued. Kostas Mitroglou rose highest to meet Pizzi’s cross and head the ball towards goal, only for the ex-Porto man to fumble it in and give Benfica a 1-0 lead five minutes shy of half-time.
The second half commenced much like the first, with Belenenses’ inability to keep hold of the ball leading to Pizzi firing a shot at goal, once again, after a minute of play. Benfica made Belenenses pay, however, in the 52nd minute through main man Jonas, as the 31-year-old’s drop of the shoulder inside the box opened up the avenue for him to bend in his 22nd league goal of the season.
Mitroglou was celebrating for a second time in the 58th minute when good work from Pizzi inside the area was completed by the Greek striker’s finishing touch, as Belenenses threatened Júlio César’s goal either side of the killer blow through Juanto Ortuño and Carlos Martins.
And if all three points weren’t already within Benfica’s grasp, Mitroglou’s hat-trick and the visitors’ fourth goal of the night put the game way beyond the reach of Júlio Velásquez’s side. More sloppy play from Belenenses’ defence allowed Gaitan to regain possession high up the pitch and leave the ex-Olympiakos man with only the goalkeeper to beat, as the Benfica loanee slotted the ball coolly past the uninspired Ventura.
Benfica weren’t done there, as a low cross from second half substitute Mehdi Carcela found its way to Jonas to make it 5-0 in the 87th minute and fire his team back up the table.
FC Porto 1-2 Arouca
It has been one of those seasons again for FC Porto, and after a couple of victories against Estoril and Gil Vicente reinstated the optimism around the club, that mood was quickly brought down a peg or two when Arouca took just 10 seconds to find the back of the net at the Estádio do Dragão - the fastest goal of the Liga NOS 2015/2016 season so far.
With a ball sprayed out wide straight from kick-off, José Ángel, Bruno Martins Indi, Maicon and Iker Casillas all failed to stop the cross which was eventually tapped in by Walter González inside the six-yard box. Porto’s initial response came through Danilo Pereira, but the Portugal international could only direct his shot wide of the target in the 8th minute.
‘Os Dragões’ threatened to equalise again through Aboubakar in the 13th minute, but former Porto keeper Rafael Bracalli did enough to deny the Cameroonian’s point-blank header. The ex-Lorient striker wasn’t so forgiving the second time around, however, heading hard and low from a corner for the equaliser just a minute later.
Jesús Corona came close to giving Porto a 2-1 lead with a diving header in the 23rd minute, but again Bracalli was aware of the danger and parried the ball away. The Brazilian’s opposite number, Casillas, had to also be alert on the stroke of half-time when he came face-to-face with Mateus, with the Spaniard having to make himself big enough to block the forward’s shot at goal.
Porto came flying out of the blocks in the second half as Aboubakar found himself with a goal-scoring opportunity in the 47th minute, only for Bracalli to once again shine in the duel between the two. The Estádio do Dragão did celebrate briefly a goal from Yacine Brahimi in the 62nd minute but saw the goal chalked off by the linesman’s flag, meanwhile replays showed that the goal should have stood.
Porto’s misery was compiled further when captain Maicon was dispossessed on the edge of the area three minutes later by Walter González, with the Paraguayan, on loan from Olimpia, making no mistake in front of Casillas and scoring Arouca’s second goal of the game.
Peseiro gambled on new boy Moussa Marega to salvage something for the home side and the Malian must have envisioned his name all over the headlines before inexplicably failing to make contact with Miguel Layún’s cross into the box in the 87th minute.
Thanks to big performances at both ends of Arouca’s set-up from Bracalli and Walter González, the visitors clinched their 6th victory of the season and move up to 7th place in the league table. With Porto now trailing table toppers Benfica by six points, a potential defeat against ‘As Aguias’ in Friday’s ‘Clássico’ could well end their hopes of winning the title.
Sporting 0-0 Rio Ave
After Benfica’s mauling of Belenenses and Porto’s slip-up at home to Arouca, the baton was handed over to Sporting who needed a win against Rio Ave to return to the top of the table. Bryan Ruiz was gifted the chance to settle some of the pre-game jitters when a clearance rebounding off Marcelo found its way to the Costa Rican in the 12th minute, but goalkeeper Cássio was privy to the danger and blocked the shot from the Sporting man.
Joris Kayembe, on loan from Porto, came close to doing his parent club a favour when Yazalde played him through on goal in the 24th minute, but Rui Patrício was quick to thwart the Belgian’s chance.
‘Os Leões’ tested Cássio further through Adrien Silva and Teo Gutierrez before the half-hour mark with no success, meanwhile the in-form João Mário also found the Brazilian shot-stopper to be true to his previous standards when saving his half-volley inside the box with relative ease.
Rio Ave’s skipper Tarantini tried his luck at Sporting’s goal on the brink of half-time, but still the deadlock couldn’t be broken.
The team from Vila do Conde probably should have taken the lead in the 51st minute when an early cross found an unmarked Kayembe at the back post, only for the 21-year-old to head his effort straight into the ground and over Patrício’s goal.
The disbelief was reciprocated at the other end when Islam Slimani was picked out by João Pereira’s cross, but Sporting’s top goalscorer directed his header straight over the bar. Eventually, the hosts did have the ball in the back of the net after 60 minutes but the goal was quickly disallowed for an alleged foul by debutant Coates.
Sporting’s struggles continued throughout the second half, as a resolute performance from Cássio and the Rio Ave defence ensured Pedro Martins’ side a hard-earned point at the Estádio José Alvalade.
By Patrick Ribeiro
Week 21 Results
Belenenses 0-5 Benfica
Vitória Setúbal 1-1 Maritimo
Tondela 1-1 Vitória Guimarães
Academica 2-2 Nacional
Paços de Ferreira 0-1 Boavista
União Madeira 0-1 Moreirense
FC Porto 1-2 Arouca
Sporting 0-0 Rio Ave
Braga 2-0 Estoril
