Another European Match Day is completed and Portuguese clubs finished this week with 2 wins, 2 draws and 1 surprising home loss by Portugal’s best club this season.
Thursday began in Kazakhstan where Vitória SC played to a 1-1 draw thanks to a 89′ minute goal by Jesus Ramirez in the Europa Conference League.
Prior to this season, no Portuguese club had ever advanced past the qualifying stage of this new European competition until Vitória finally qualified. Since they did, they won nine straight matches and that streak ended with today’s draw but still stay undefeated. Very impressive from Portugal’s fourth biggest club who sit in a good position to qualify for the Round of 16.
The next club to play was FC Porto seeking to end a 3 match losing streak across all competitions. They led twice in Belgium against Anderlecht in the Europa League but twice they lost the advantage to draw 2-2 after goals by Galeno and Fábio Vieira weren’t enough.
Porto manager Vítor Bruno has been under pressure since the Classico loss in Luz and tonight’s result won’t help calm the fans, including the traveling supporters who expressed their frustration after the match.
Porto sit in the playoff zone but far from the top where various media expected them to be as one of the favorites to win this competition. Porto play Monday against Casa Pia and need a win fast to mitigate the crisis.
Thursday’s schedule ended in Minho with one of SC Braga’s best wins of the season with a 3-0 home victory against Bundesliga’s Hoffenheim. Braga took a 2-0 lead after just 8 minutes on goals by Bruma and Roger Fernandes.
Vítor Carvalho scored a brilliant and candidate for Goal of the Week strike in the final minutes to seal a 3-0 Europa League win to stay in the playoff zone with FC Porto.
Benfica won on Wednesday and Sporting CP lost ugly to Arsenal on Tuesday in other European action this week (links below).
Liga action returns this weekend after a long stoppage for the International Break and the Cup.
Link: Di Maria Pushes Benfica to 3-2 Champions League Win at Monaco
Link: Arsenal Hand Sporting CP Their First Champions League Loss
SC Braga beat Hoffenheim 3-0 and move up to the play-off zone of the Europa League.
Braga have 7 points in 5 matches in the league phase. pic.twitter.com/CJX92yvFfR
— PortugueseSoccer.com ⚽️ (@PsoccerCOM) November 28, 2024
FC Porto draw in Belgium against Anderlecht and see their winless streak grow to 4 in a row across all competitions.
They led twice tonight but the Belgian side came back to draw.
Porto have 5 points in 5 matches in the regular phase of the Europa League table. pic.twitter.com/vVYyKJucQb
— PortugueseSoccer.com ⚽️ (@PsoccerCOM) November 28, 2024
Vitória SC drew 1-1 in Kazakhstan against Astana. They have not lost in 10 consecutive matches in the Conference League this season (9 wins, 1 draw). An ongoing Portuguese record.
Chucho Ramírez scored in the 89th minute for the draw. pic.twitter.com/dpVn4apFid
— PortugueseSoccer.com ⚽️ (@PsoccerCOM) November 28, 2024
