Portuguese Liga
Reporter denies Man City interest in €50m youngster
Manchester City have no interest in signing Sporting Lisbon youngster Nuno Mendes this summer, claims BBC journalist Simon Stone on Twitter. Mendes first joined Sporting’s academy back in 2012 at the age of just ten. He spent eight years in the youth teams before earning his first professional contract in 2020. Mendes has made a huge impact at Sporting Last season, he became a key part of Ruben Amorim’s side that won the Liga NOS title. The teenager made 29 league appearances, scoring and assisting once while keeping an astonishing 19 clean sheets. This form earned him a place in Portugal’s squad for the European Championships, although he didn’t feature during the tournament. There had been speculation that English champions Manchester City were eyeing up the left-back. However, BBC repor...
Huge boost for Liverpool as agent speaks out on £50m Klopp target, price could drop too
Liverpool have been handed a huge double boost to their hopes of signing Otavio from Porto this summer. According to A Bola, the Portuguese giants are now willing to accept less than €60 million (£50m) for the exciting number 10. Added to that, the 26-year-old’s agent has admitted that the Brazilian will leave this summer if the deal is good for his client and Porto. Jurgen Klopp has a lot of work to do at Anfield this summer to get the Reds back to the top of the Premier League next season. The German will undoubtedly be looking for more guile and creativity in attacking midfield to help supplement the talent he has at his disposal. Otavio double boost handed to Liverpool The Reds have been heavily linked with Otavio over the past few weeks (CMJournal). Originally it was thought that his ...
Champions League flashback: Liverpool and Man City’s chance for revenge + 2020 Final repeat
The fixtures for the Champions League quarter-finals have been drawn, with several enticing fixtures. Manchester City were the first side out of the pot, coming up against Borussia Dortmund, while Porto got drawn against Chelsea. The final two fixtures see repeats of recent finals, with Bayern Munich facing Paris Saint-Germain, and Real Madrid playing Liverpool. In anticipation of the next round of European games, here is a look back at some of the best clashes between these sides. Manchester City vs Borussia Dortmund Balotelli’s equaliser was not enough to prevent an early exit for Man City Rather surprisingly, this is only the second time that these two sides have been drawn up against each other. The first came in the group stages of the 2012/13 season. It was a very different Borussia ...
Juventus knocked out by Porto in enthralling Champions League tie
Porto progressed to the Champions League quarter-finals after a breathless second leg against Juventus. Both sides had glorious chances to open the scoring in the first ten minutes. Alvaro Morata was first, seeing his header well saved by Agustin Marchesin after Juan Cuadrado’s inch-perfect cross. Shortly afterwards, Mehdi Taremi had his close range effort blocked by Leonardo Bonucci, and proceeded to head the rebound against the crossbar. But it wasn’t long before the deadlock was broken, and it was the away side who found the net. Taremi won his side a penalty following Merih Demiral’s challenge. Sergio Oliveira stepped up and placed his spot kick into the bottom corner. There was little in the way of goalmouth action before the break, with Porto looking solid at the back. Marchesin deni...
Penalty Kings Part II: The Bruno bounce
The art of penalty-taking is certainly not as easy as most people make it out to be. The fact that the xG assigned to a spot-kick is only 0.76 clearly indicates that the taker has a lot to do if they are to convert their big chance from 12 yards out. While most penalties are centred around mind-games between the shooter and goalkeeper where they both try to pre-empt the other’s move, two players have been changing this. They are Jorginho and Bruno Fernandes, who have extremely unconventional penalty-taking techniques, which involve a jump just before the ball is kicked. Jorginho was the inventor of this technique, and we analysed his penalties in the first part of this series, which you should read before getting stuck into this piece. Now, onto Bruno Fernandes’ penalty technique. The Brun...
Leicester City Eyeing Up £35m Centre-Back
Leicester City are reportedly looking to sign Braga centre-back David Carmo, according to a report by Portuguese outlet O Jogo. Carmo is a 21-year-old defender from Portugal who broke into the Braga first team back in January. Renowned for his commanding presence, athleticism, and ability on the ball, he has earned comparisons to Liverpool star Virgil van Dijk. Carmo has attracted attention for his performances this year O Jogo is reporting that the Foxes are interested in bringing the Portugal youth international to the King Power Stadium, having impressed when the two sides met in the Europa League group stage. Despite being on the wrong end of a 4-0 thrashing, Carmo was the subject of high praise from Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers. Speaking after the game, Rodgers said (via HITC): “...
Benfica Join Premier League Quintet in Hunting Rangers Star
Benfica have become the latest club to begin tracking Rangers midfielder Glen Kamara, as reported by TEAMtalk. Kamara joined Rangers in January 2019 after a short spell at Dundee. He has since become an influential figure in Steven Gerrard’s side, helping them to the top of the table and into the knockout rounds of the Europa League. Gerrard wants Kamara to stay The form of the Finland international has attracted a lot of attention, especially from the Premier League, with Everton, Newcastle United, Southampton, Crystal Palace, and Sheffield United all reportedly interested in the midfielder. And now Portuguese side Benfica are also believed to be interested in securing his signature, according to TEAMtalk. The Lisbon side were seemingly impressed by the Finnish midfielder when they came u...
Real Madrid join chase for Darwin Núñez
Real Madrid have become the latest club to express interest in Benfica striker Darwin Núñez, according to FourFourTwo. The 21-year-old started his career at Peñarol, before moving to Spanish second tier side Almeria. After impressing there, he made the switch to Benfica, where he has registered five goals and a further five assists in his first ten outings The striker has four caps for Uruguay, scoring twice. He has often been compared to fellow Uruguayan Edinson Cavani. Núñez celebrates a goal for Uruguay FourFourTwo reports that Los Blancos are looking at bringing in Núñez in January in case Serbian striker Luka Jovic departs. Jovic has had a tough time at the Bernabeu since signing from Eintracht Frankfurt in 2019, scoring just twice in all competitions in a Real Madrid shirt. It is now...
The Porto Fairytale
Whenever there is a conversation about the greatest teams in Europe, we often name Real Madrid, Barcelona, Liverpool, AC Milan and Bayern Munich among the elite. In fact recently, 3 of the above have won Champions League titles and have been a treat to watch for these past 5 years. However, in all of the conversations, discussions and debates, the name of FC Porto is nowhere to be found. We know Jose Mourinho the “special one” but, what exactly what made him so special? This time, we talk about the forgotten ‘Great Team’ of Europe. We talk about Mourinho, we talk about the Porto fairytale that spanned two seasons, winning some serious silverware. After his brief but impressive stints at Benfica and Uniao de Leiria, Mourinho returned to Porto in 2002 as manager. It had an immediate effect o...
