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Portuguese Abroad goals round-up: Cancelo seals Barca comeback; Bruno nets United winner; Ramos bags brace in PSG rout; Ronaldo on fire in Saudi; Leao the hero for Milan; Pedro Neto thriving with Wolves; Jota on target for Liverpool

Portuguese Abroad

It proved a sensational weekend of goalscoring by Portuguese players abroad, with some 30 Luso players hitting the back of the net in over 20 countries overseas, with many of the biggest Seleção stars on target.

João Cancelo, Bruno Fernandes and Rafael Leão all scored decisive winners for Barcelona, Manchester United and AC Milan respectively, while Gonçalo Ramos opened his PSG account with a double in their victory over rivals Marseille. Elsewhere, Cristiano Ronaldo continues to dominate the Saudi Pro League, Pedro Neto remains a bright spark for Wolves and Jota helped Liverpool to another win.

João Cancelo was in humble form after his late equaliser sealed a remarkable comeback win for Barcelona against Celta Vigo in La Liga. Barca trailed 2-0 to the Galicians with ten minutes remaining, but their Portuguese duo of Cancelo and João Félix played a huge role in the hosts scoring three goals before the end of normal time.

Robert Lewandowski scored a quickfire brace (81’ and 85’) with both goals assisted by the new signings from Portugal. First, Félix lifted a deft throughball into Lewandowski’s path for the Pole to score with a cool lobbed finish, before Cancelo’s pull-back found the striker in enough space inside the area to sweep in the equaliser.

With Barca back level at 2-2, Cancelo made a burst into the penalty area when the ball was out wide and youngster Gavi spotted his run, picking out the full-back who cushioned his finish past Ivan Villar. In total, Barca’s three goals were scored in just over eight minutes, capping a memorable turnaround with their Luso stars at the heart of the action.

"I was lost in the game,” Cancelo told the media following the final whistle. “I made many technical errors that are not normal in my game. I had to improve and turn things around.

“I tried to give everything until the end and we were able to come back and to win is the most important thing. If I perform, the club will love me. If not, they will kick me out."

 

Bruno gets United back to winning ways

Manchester United ended their three-match losing streak with a hard-fought 1-0 victory at Burnley in the Premier League on Saturday. United came into the game off the back of defeats to Arsenal, Brighton and Bayern Munich while nursing an extensive list of absentees, with some 11 players declared unfit to start at Turf Moor.

Nevertheless, with Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Dalot in the starting line-up, the Red Devils managed to secure the result they needed thanks to their captain. Veteran defender Jonny Evans played a well-weighted switch into the right side of the penalty area and Fernandes connected with a crisp volley to give United the points on the stroke of half time.

“It was a great pass obviously,” Bruno said of his goal. “I know he has great qualities playing the ball in behind with both feet, so I knew he could give this pass and I was waiting for him. It was tough to get in behind them but we knew we could get some space and so it was a great ball, great finish and we’re really happy for the win.”

Related article: Gonçalo Ramos opens PSG account with brace in Le Classique

Leão the difference for Milan

Rafael Leão was named AC Milan captain for their Serie A match against Verona at San Siro on Saturday, and the Portuguese responded by scoring the only goal of the game for the Rossoneri.

Former Sporting man Leão, who has received criticism in some quarters of late – not least from Milan legend Arrigo Sacchi - earned the armband because “we all wanted him as captain based on his attitude,” according to coach Stefano Pioli.

The winning goal came in the 8th minute when Milan won possession in midfield and Olivier Giroud prodded the ball through to Leão, who showed devastating pace to move clear of the Verona defence and finish past Lorenzo Montipo to score for the third straight league match.

“A special day for me, having represented this club as the captain. A great game from everyone, we continue together,” Leão wrote on social media. The win for Milan sees them in 2nd place, three points behind city rivals Internazionale, who are unbeaten.

 

Ronaldo brace as Al Nassr win Saudi thriller

Cristiano Ronaldo continued his prolific start to the Saudi Pro League season by scoring twice in Al Nassr’s 4-3 win over Al Ahli on Friday evening. Ronaldo opened the scoring after just a few minutes and later scored what proved the winning goal for Luis Castro’s side, who look on-course to challenge for honours this season.

In a crackling atmosphere in Riyadh, Ronaldo put Al Nassr ahead in the 4th minute, latching onto Sadio Mane’s pass and firing across goal into the far corner with his left foot. Star names littered the scoresheet soon after, with former Benfica forward Talisca scoring twice for Ronaldo’s side, while Franck Kessie and Riyad Mahrez registering for Al Ahli.

However, it would be Ronaldo to score the vital 4th which proved decisive for the home side. Some neat footwork was followed by another brilliant left-footed finish from the edge of the box in the 52nd minute to put Al Nassr 4-2 up, after which Feras al Brikan’s consolation rendered Ronaldo’s goal the winner.

Ronaldo now has nine goals and comfortably leads the Pro League top goalscorer charts from his nearest competitors, who all have six. Al Nassr are 5th in the table, three points adrift of Nuno Espirito Santo’s champions Al Ittihad in top spot.

In-form Neto back among goals

Pedro Neto scored his first senior goal in 16 months to continue his bright start to the season with Wolverhampton Wanderers, who were held to a 1-1 draw by Luton in the Premier League.

Neto has suffered severely with knee and ankles injuries across the last two years, but has emerged as a bright spark in a struggling Wolves team this term. The winger leads the assists charts in England’s top flight with four so far, but Saturday saw Neto final get back on the scoresheet in the draw at Kenilworth Road.

Wolves endured a major setback in the first half, going down to ten men when French midfielder Jeanricner Bellegarde was sent off for violent conduct. However, the visitors took the lead early in the second period when a piece of brilliance from Neto saw him evade two defenders to cut in from the right flank and fire into the roof of the net with his favoured left foot.

Luton pegged Wolves back through a highly controversial penalty to earn a share of the spoils, but Neto admitted after the game he was pleased to be back playing consistently. “It was a difficult injury, I had two difficult injuries in the last years, but I love to do what I do,” he said. “But I work hard, I work for the team, and I think we will continue to work hard and I hope to continue to get better.”

Jota puts the seal on Liverpool win

Liverpool are on an impressive run of form in England and the Reds racked up their 6th straight victory with a 3-1 win over West Ham United at Anfield. Portuguese forward Diogo Jota has struggled for minutes in his side’s last two outings, but scored the clinching goal on Saturday after coming on as a late substitute.

Jota was left on the bench for the duration of Liverpool’s midweek win over LASK in Austria, and the former Porto man was again named among the reserves for the visit of the Hammers. Goals from Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez contributed to Liverpool being 2-1 up when Jota was introduced (81’) and within minutes the Portuguese was on-hand to convert from close-range following Virgil van Dijk’s knockdown.

The goal was Jota’s second of the season for his club, adding to the brace scored for Portugal in their 9-0 win over Luxembourg earlier this month. Liverpool are 2nd in the Premier League, two points off leaders and champions Manchester City.

The rest: Podence makes mark back in Greece as Portuguese go goal-crazy across the globe

Two dozen more goals to get through in a bumper edition of this week’s round-up, with Daniel Podence leading the way with his first goal since returning to Greek giants Olympiacos. Podence rejoined his former club earlier this month on a season-long loan, and Podence grabbed a headed goal as Olympiacos hammered Kifisia 4-0 in the Super League.

Former Benfica man Gonçalves is enjoying some great form in Denmark with champions Copenhagen. Having scored in their midweek Champions League draw at Galatasaray, Gonçalves struck on Sunday as Copenhagen won 3-2 away at rivals Brøndby. There were other Nordic goals with a Luso passport as Bubacar Djaló scored for Finnish side Lahti in their 2-1 win over Oulu, while Tiago Fernandes got the opener as his side Fram drew 2-2 at IBV in Iceland.

In England, André Vidigal’s goal for Championship side Stoke City was not enough to prevent a 3-1 home defeat to Hull, while in the third tier there was a first goal of the season by Rúben Rodrigues to help his new team Oxford overcome Exeter City 3-0 in League One. Over to the United States and Xande Silva’s goal helped Atlanta United breeze past Montreal 4-1 in MLS.

Young Boys lead the way in the Swiss Super League after a resounding 4-1 win over Lugano, with locally-born Portuguese prospect Joel Monteiro among the goals. In Bulgaria, there was a Portuguese scorer on both sides as Ludogorets (Claude Gonçalves) won 3-1 at Lokomotiv Sofia (Diogo Teixeira) in the First League.

Former Sporting man Carlos Mané scored for Kayserispor away at Besiktas in Turkey, but his side were beaten 2-1 in the Super Lig. In nearby Cyprus, Hélder Ferreira scored for Anorthosis as they held Ricardo Sá Pinto’s APOEL to a 1-1 draw, while Pedro Marques’ goal helped Apollon to a 2-0 win over AEL.

Ricardo Gomes continues to make a good impression in Qatar, this week scoring a 93rd-minute equaliser to earn Al Shamal a 2-2 Muaither. Across Asia in Indonesia, midfielder Ze Valente scored a stunning volley for Persebaya in their 3-1 over Arema and Carlos Fortes' goal gave PSIS the points against Barito. In Poland, ex-Porto midfielder Tomás Podstawski’s goal could not prevent bottom-placed Ruch Chorzów from a 5-3 home defeat to Rakow Czestochowa in the Ekstraklasa.

As is often the case, there were goals in Luxembourg’s National Division: Brandon Soares Rosa got the first goal of the night for Monnerich in their 2-2 draw at Schifflange, while João Teixeira’s dramatic 97th-minute penalty also earned saw Jeunesse d'Esch salvage a 2-2 against Mondorf-Les-Bains. Finally, former Farense midfielder João Paulo’s winner gave Sheriff a 1-0 victory at Zimbru in Moldova and Pedro Nuno did the same for Səbail who overcame Araz Naxçıvan 1-0 in Azerbaijan.

By @SeanGillen9

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