Charlie Foley
Full Member
- Joined
- Mar 11, 2012
- Messages
- 18,351
2-1 Porto. Nice finish. Deserved lead
I agree it would be great for Portuguese football but you would be surprised to know that their have been more champions of Portugal.I recently visited Northern Portugal again, mainly Porto for work reasons. I wanted to visit Braga's very unique stadium for a long time, and was finally able to do that, paying just 6 Euros for the tour. I've been on the tours at the Bernabeu, Old Trafford, San Siro, Camp Nou, Allianz Arena, Amsterdam Arena, Ewood Park (I had to throw that one in there), the stadiums of each of Portugal's big 3 (the Porto museum is incredibly good) etc., and I'd rank Braga's as one of the very best. The fact that the tour guide was incredibly knowledgeable, friendly and helpful (I asked a lot of questions) also was a big factor.
Plus I really liked the city of Braga itself. It was beautiful and a wonderful combination of 'old and new'. While I adore Porto and consider it to be one of my favourite cities in Europe, Braga was a nice change of pace, especially with so few tourists in the centre in comparison.
So based on that Braga are my favourite Portuguese team, especially with them being the club that has the best chance of beating, breaking up, andunsettling the big 3. I talked with the tour guide about how impressive it was that they compete so well with the big 3 despite earning significantly lower revenues especially from TV rights. They're looking good for a top 3 finish, but maybe they can pip Porto to 2nd place this season as well. One day I really hope they can win the title. Certainly a non-big 3 title winner (Belenenses in the 1940s and Boavista in 2001 are the only historical examples of that) would be great for Portuguese domestic football.
Hope you’re doing well mate.Have not made a post about the league in a while.
Benfica have survive their storm and look a lock to win the title now. A win next weekends away to Portimonense is all but seals the title for the club.
Braga need to perform better in these big games to finally go up a level. They choke when it matters most.
With that being said they have all but secured CL for next season barring an insane sequence of results, so that will make next season very interesting in a competitive standpoint.
Hope all the other posters in this thread are doing well, it’s been a while.
Ya I think Sporting only have themselves to blame in that regard. The team has obvious quality but lack consistency as well as efficiency in front of goal.Hope you’re doing well mate.
Benfica were very nervy the last few games but managed to get over the line. Missed a shitload of chances this weekend. A draw would have made the derby in a few weeks very interesting…now they should probably have enough of a buffer.
Sporting just lost too much over the summer to compete. Decent Europa league run but was disappointed they didn’t get out of the CL group
He’s really good, carried the ball better then Palhinha but not as good defensively as him. Although he is very solid defensively.How good is Ugarte? We've been linked to him. Only 22 and Uruguayan which is one of my favourite football nations.
Can he make similar impact in premier league that Joao Palhinha has?
In fairness The red card in Porto match was a horrific tackle. The timing of it in the match shouldn’t matter in my opinion.Good for Benfica to win the title. especially against the odds.
We laugh/complain about Liverpool getting assistance from refs but Porto are the daddies of that, they are never that far away from an alleged scandal involving refs and then you see the game last week where they ended up with 3 pens, technically 4 as a retake was ordered when they missed one I remember Platini wanting to ban them from UEFA comps over referee corruption, then there was that time Deco threw a boot at the referee and got no punishment as he said he would consider his National team place if punished
Some of the stats for Porto are a tad unbelievable this season, 7/8 penalties just in the last few games meaning they are the team with the most penalties in the entirety of world football, including leagues suspected of dubious betting practices. Pepe has so few yellow or red cards you’d think he was a saint, and the rest of the defencehas a similarly unlikely low number of cards.
Did anybody see the red card offence today? Was it justified? Seems very early for a red card unless the offence was very egregious.
Plus that offside against Scholes was exceptionally dodgy, likely cost us a CL and will never be forgiven. Basically launched Jose too.
I didn’t see it, been watching the Benfica match, hence asking. You usually get away with stuff so early, so guessed either the offence or the refereeing was egregious.In fairness The red card in Porto match was a horrific tackle. The timing of it in the match shouldn’t matter in my opinion.
Porto aren’t the only one in the land line that.May be wrong here but wasn’t the Porto chairman convicted of corruption years ago, and basically got away with it by apologising and saying he’d never do it again
Just been told by a friend who lives in Lisbon that the Porto chairman is nicknamed The Pope, because “he can do everything and perform miracles”
I've seen the news reports regarding Benfica being investigated for corruption, so I don't dispute what you say.Porto aren’t the only one in the land line that.
The amount of scandals just within the last 5 years between them and Benfica is enough to write a novel.
Seeing Benfica calling Porto corrupt and vice versa is like the spider man meme of them pointing at each other. Both are equally the same.
Congrats to Benfica though.
Sporting don’t compete so theirs thatI've seen the news reports regarding Benfica being investigated for corruption, so I don't dispute what you say.
Sporting been at it too? Seems unlikely they'd compete without doing so?
Maybe you’re just bad at it. Bigger bribes my friendSporting don’t compete so theirs that
3 league titles in 40 years will answer your question on if they partake in Benfica and Porto’s contínuos festivities.
Would not be shocked if Sporting sucked at cheating too tbfMaybe you’re just bad at it. Bigger bribes my friend
Now reduced to 29% to comply with UEFA regulations.So... Aston Villa acquired 46% of Vitória Sport Club, most known as Vitória de Guimarães. Let's see if the fans will let this happen.
The purpose will be the same I guess. Aston Villa actually did a good move, Vitória is a good club for players to develop: they always aim for top 6 and the demanding from fans is always huge, so players learn how to deal with a demanding and pressure environment.Now reduced to 29% to comply with UEFA regulations.