All in all not a bad week for Portuguese teams in Europe. Sporting was humiliated at home, 0-5, by Man City. Only upside is that maybe MC will play their second team and be unmotivated in the return leg so maybe SCP can salvage a point or so. But they're effectively out of Europe. Draw for Benfica doesn't look terrible considering that Ajax beat them twice, including at the Luz, in the group stage. But Benfica will have to win in Amsterdam to advance, which doesn't seem too likely--but not impossible, so they remain very much alive. Best outcomes were in the Europa League. Porto drew at Lazio (nearly winning before a 95th minute equalizer) to advance 4-3. And Braga managed to overturn a 0-2 deficit from the first leg to qualify after 120min and a thrilling penalty shootout. Both teams will know who they face in the EL E16 later today. It remains a credible year for Portugal in Europe, sitting seventh with 10.916 points, behind Germany but ahead of Austria. France and Netherlands are having great years so we're losing ground to them. And part of the reason for that is that France and Netherlands have teams tearing it up in the new ECL, and Portugal has zero teams in that competition. If Portugal is going to maintain its level, it's going to have to get some success in the ECL in future years.
Oh wait, EL R16 matchups already announced: SC Braga v AS Monaco FC Porto v Olympique Lyon Tough but not insurmountable foes, as to be expected at this stage of European competition. Should be a couple very interesting ties, coming up this March: https://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleag...003fb32df94-1000--europa-league-last-16-draw/
Vitesse have a tough draw with Roma but I can see PSV going very far in that competition. Portugal needs the centralization of TV rights to come sooner to bolster the rest of the teams competitiveness. The big 3 will always be in either UCL or EL, they will rarely go to ECL, even if we lose a CL spot the big 3 will likely qualify from EL group stage unless they're having an awful year.
We need more Bragas, or Boavistas circa 2002-03--teams outside the big 3 that are competitive in Europe. The ECL is a much easier field, so some of the teams outside the big 3 plus Braga should be able to make at least the group stage. Sta Clara and Pacos de Ferreira both got to the final elimination round before losing after a tough draw (Tottenham and Partizan Belgrade). Just having one of those teams doing decently in the group stage would have been a game-changer for our UEFA coefficient.
Haha hey y'all, it was a shocking day eh? Actually a good couple weeks so far for Portugal in Europe, save for Porto. Nice to see Sporting salvage a point and some pride at Man City, though of course SCP is now out. Braga did great in their home leg against Monaco, hope they can make that 2-0 win hold up. Porto was the only down note, losing 0-1 at home to a good but not great Lyon team. Then there was Benfica, holy crap! The win plus points for advancing to the quarters put our average just short of 12. That's excellent for this point in the season. But then why is Portugal still 7th in Europe, waaaay behind France and Holland? Easy answer: The new Europa Conference League. If you look at France and Netherlands, they are having good but not great years in the CL and EL. Actually Netherlands is out of both those competitions. But they are KILLING IT in the ECL. Netherlands has four teams alive in the ECL, France two. Those outcomes are keeping those two nations well ahead of us despite the Benfica upset. I sound like a broken record I realize but if Portugal is going to stay competitive for spots in Europe they'll need to get some success going in the ECL. Teams outside the big 4 (yeah I'm including Braga) will have to step up and at least make and compete in the group stage. Anyway, tomorrow's a big day as well: We'll see if Braga can make their big lead v Monaco hold when they head to the principality, and maybe Porto can pull off their own minor version of Benfica's away magic v Lyon.
Really need the Sharing of TV rights to happen to make the rest of the league more competitive. We had some poor luck when Paços got Tottenham but in general the rest of the league isn't on par with the likes of Feynoord or AZ
Braga got an early lead vs Monaco with a goal by Abel Ruiz, now up 3-0 on the overall aggregate. Barring any late catastrophic collapses, they've pretty much sealed it
CL: Benfica v Liverpool EL: Braga v Rangers Liverpool will be heavily favored, but there are no easy draws at this stage. Can Benfica pull off another upset? Odds are against it but it's not impossible. Rangers are always a serious foe. They're second in the Scottish PL at present behind Celtic. My guess is Rangers will be favored but Braga winning would not be as much of an upset.
Rangers are carrying a lot of momentum after they beat Dortmund in the previous playoff round. But I think Braga have a reasonable chance if they're on their game and play cohesive football like how they beat Monaco
Former Porto player Luis Diaz just has a knack for delivering against Portuguese league defenders. Had a goal and assist in Liverpool's 3-1 away win vs Benfica
Benfica really blew it today. Two ridiculous turn overs that resulted in Liverpool goals because rather than settling down and making a good pass they were trying to rush. Benfica had a real opportunity today. They were really pushing the Liverpool defense in their transition game. I felt that Liverpool had to change their tactics today. They were gifted that last goal.
Two Portuguese teams in Great Britain this week. Today, we'll see if Benfica can pull off a miracle vs Liverpool--2-0 would get them to penalties. Tomorrow, we'll see if Braga can make its slim 1-0 margin from the home leg vs Rangers count. The latter's a much more plausible feat but not an easy one. If Portugal can get one team to a European semi, that would be great. Been a while since we've had a team get that far.
In absolute terms, we did better than most previous years. 12.916 points is our best total in over a decade, since we got a record high 18.8 in 2010/11, the year that Portugal had three teams in the EL semis and both teams in the final. But in relative terms, it wasn't a great year--Portugal 7th overall after the big five plus Netherlands. I'm a broken record on this but the ECL is a big wild card for Portugal in Europe going forward. France and Netherlands ended up ahead of us only because they had several teams do well in that competition while we had zero teams even make the group stage. If we don't start getting competitive in the ECL we'll fall behind those two nations at least.
So Rangers ended up beating Leipzig are march onto the Europa League finals where they'll face Eintracht Frankfurt. I wouldn't be completely surprised if they go on to win it all. It just seems like one of those stories you can't explain...