All right! For the vanishingly small number of people who, like me, are for whatever reason deeply interested in the performance of Portuguese clubs in Europe, the season is beginning! Yes, already: The early stages of qualification are under way for the Champs League and the Europa Conference League, with the Europa League proper soon to get under way. Here are the Portuguese teams in play at the start of all competitions: FC Porto (CL group stage) Sporting CP (CL group stage) SL Benfica (CL 3d qualifying round) Braga (EL group stage) Gil Vicente (ECL 3d qualifying round) Vitoria Guimaraes (ECL 2d qualifying round) Of all these teams, only Vitoria has played a game, the first (home) leg of their ECL 2d round qualifier, which they won 3-0 vs Puskas Akademia (Hungary). That sets them up well to advance to the third and final qualifying round, where
I also get excited about this. Thanks for keeping great records/points The key is that Guimaraes and Gil make group stages
Today: Puskas Akademia 0-0 Vitoria SC With this result, Vitoria advances to the third and penultimate round of the ECL qualifying stages along with Gil Vicente. Vitoria plays Hajduk Split, traditionally one of Croatia's stronger teams. Gil plays Riga from Latvia, about whom I know nothing. Per @johnboys' comment, it's critical that at least one of these teams, and preferably both, reach the group stage of the ECL. Nations like France and Netherlands racked up major points last year in the ECL, while neither of Portugal's teams even qualified for the group stage. If Portugal is going to remain competitive against teams outside the big four, they will have to perform well in this competition.
Yeah boys this ain't happening LOL Vitoria faces Hajduk Split, and if they win they face Villareal in the playoff. A few months ago they beat Juventus and Bayern and Unai Emery doesn't mess around in Europe. Gil Vicente faces Riga and if they win, they face the winner of Dundee United vs. AZ Alkmaar
Vitoria has a rough road ahead, even if they can reverse the 1-3 in the home leg v Hajduk Split. Drawing Villarreal in the goddamn ECL is a comically brutal stroke of terrible luck. That's a Champions League level opponent lurking in the qualifying rounds of the third-tier European tournament. Gil Vicente has a shot, though. They drew away to Riga so if they win at home they advance. Dundee has a 1-0 lead on AZ Alkmaar prior to the leg in the Netherlands. Either of those could be in the playoff, and it doesn't seem impossible for Gil Vicente to beat either team. In better news, Benfica destroyed Midtjylland 4-1 in the CL third qualifying round, so barring something truly shocking in the away leg they'll be in the main draw.
Benfica finishes the job emphatically, 3-1 at Midtjylland for a 7-2 aggregate win and a spot in the main CL draw. Portugal will again have the big three in the CL group stages.
Whoa wait: I spoke too soon. There's actually another round of qualifying before the group stage. Benfica have to play Dynamo Kyiv in a two legged play off to get there. Tough draw. Games will be next week and the week after.
Just to add a bit more context to this thread, which ever country is ranked 5th in the coefficients after this season will receive 3 direct spots to the CL group stage in 2024*. Right now its a close, 3-horse race involving Portugal, the Netherlands and France. * at least based on the current proposal for the expanded CL. The format seems to get tweaked every few months but I don't see this part of it changing.
Three wins out of three for Portugal this week: Midtjylland 1-4 Benfica Vitoria 1-0 Hajduk Split Gil Vicente 4-0 Riga But the win by Vitoria was not enough to overcome the 1-3 away loss so they are out of the ECL. Benfica moves on to play Dynamo Kyiv and Gil Vicente will play AZ Alkmaar, who just pummeled Dundee 7-0. That'll be a tough tie, but if Portugal is going to have any representation in the ECL they'll have to win some qualifying playoff at some point.
I doubt we will get that spot or even 6th. The ECL is exposing our lack of quality outside the top 4 clubs.
Dynamo Kyiv 0-2 Benfica Authoritative win in the away leg positions Benfica very well to qualify for the UCL group stage.
I just checked and Gil Vicente is apparently playing AZ Alkmaar?? I had seen that they were gonna cross paths with Villareal. Still a tough draw but not sure how that changed.
What looked like a potentially doable come back turned into a nightmare result. They were losing 1-0 but in the last 10 minutes Gil Vicente allowed 3 goals and lost 4-0 vs AZ
Yeah this was a killer. Was looking hopeful for Vicente but now they're out of Europe barring a miracle. I hope they can get a win vs AZ in the home leg to salvage a point. Nice to see Benfica again whitewash Dynamo Kyiv, though, securing a place in the CL group stages 5-0 on the aggregate.
CL groups are out: Group B: Atletico Madrid; FC Porto; Bayer Leverkusen; Club Brugge Group D: Eintracht Frankfurt; Tottenham Hotspur; Sporting CP; Olympique Marseille Group H: Paris St Germain; Juventus; Benfica; Maccabi Haifa It's the CL so you expect tough competition, but nothing here looks to me like an unusually easy or hard draw given that standard. Maybe Benfica got it toughest with both PSG and Juventus.
Europa League groups are out. Group D: Braga, malmo, union Berlin, and st galloise Union is supposed to be much improved this year but even so Braga should be able to get out of this group if they play to their potential.
Solid champs league results in week 1 Benfica 2-0 Maccabi Haifa Frankfurt 0-3 Sporting (first scp win in Germany) Atlético 2-1 Porto (crazy game, all three goals scored after the 90th minute)
another great result, Braga wins 2-0 away to Malmo of Sweden. Three wins and a loss from four games on the first match week, Portugal currently fourth overall in UEFA points for the season.
Indeed, three great results ... and one disastrous one. Sporting CP 2-0 Tottenham SL Benfica 2-0 Maccabi Haifa Braga 1-0 Union Berlin FC Porto 0-4 Club Brugge That's two wins out of two games for each of Sporting, Benfica, and Braga. It's also two losses out of two for Porto, and what is the worst CL home loss for them I can remember, at least when taking into account the opposition. Still thanks to the first three Portugal is third in the UEFA points race at the moment, despite no points from the ECL.
Interesting couple of weeks. Mostly good results, some less so. Team by team, worst to first: Marseille 3-0 Sporting CP Sporting CP 0-2 Marseille What?? Sporting beat Frankfurt away and Tottenham at home, and then lost home and away to a team that is worse on paper to either of the first two opponents, scoring zero and conceding five. After all that, Sporting went from first to third in the group so they are still in Europa League qualifying position. That said, they are even on points with OM and the group is tight so anything could happen. Braga 1-2 St Gilloise St Gilloise 3-3 Braga Similar to Sporting, after a pair of great wins to open the group, Braga shit the bed. They blow a 1-0 lead in extra time to lose to St Gilloise, a Belgian team I just learned existed (though credit to them, they are playing great). And they were up 3-1 on them at St G after the first half but conceded twice to draw 3-3. Braga now sits second, so they are in qualifying position, and given how St G is playing they have easier competition to come. Benfica 1-1 PSG PSG 1-1 Benfica Great work here from Benfica to hold a strong PSG team home and away, getting two points. Both of those teams now have eight points after four games, and are five points clear of the other two teams (each of which have three points each). A win and possibly a draw in the next game for Benfica would clinch advancement. Porto 2-0 Leverkusen Leverkusen 0-3 Porto Sort of the reverse of Sporting. Porto was awful their first two games, including a truly humiliating 0-4 home loss to Club Brugge. But then like Lazarus they rose from the dead to just obliterate Leverkusen home and away, and now are second in the group. It's been interesting for sure. And at present things look good. All four teams would be alive in Europe if things ended like this. Final couple group stage matchdays should be very interesting.
Outstanding week of CL results for Portugal. Benfica 4-3 Juventus. Thrilling game that almost saw Benfica blow a 4-1 lead but they held on and clinched qualification. They can also win the group if they exceed PSG's result on the final matchday. Club Brugge 0-4 Porto. Spectacular win for Porto that is the mirror image of the 0-4 pasting Brugge hung on them in Porto earlier this season. That's three wins in a row for Porto and good enough to qualify them for the last 16. They could even win the group if they win their final game while Brugge loses. This was a nearly unthinkable position for Porto to be in after they lost their first two group games and looked poor in the process. Tottenham 1-1 Sporting CP. Sporting gave up a late goal to concede a tie, but drawing a good EPL team away is a very respectable result. This group is incredibly close going into the final matchday, and SCP could end up anywhere from group winner to last and out of Europe. Good news is that they are at home to a Frankfurt team they beat in Germany, and unless they lose they are guaranteed to stay in Europe, at least at the EL level. Tomorrow Braga faces Union Berlin at home. They clinch a top-two finish if they win.
Excellent week for sure, Portuguese teams continue to overachieve despite the differences in salaries and player values compared to most of the other big teams there. As for Sporting a draw also qualifies for UCL Round of 16 no matter what (better head to head vs. Frankfurt and Spurs in case of a tie), only way to go to EL is if Sporting lose and Marseille lose.
Benfica and Porto have both clinched their qualification; Sporting is also highly likely to qualify. 3 of 3 qualifying looks damn good for the Portuguese league. In fact, better than most of the top 4 leagues. We already know Barcelona and Atletico Madrid from Spain won't advance and Seville is likely not to either. That looks bad for Spain who will likely only have Real Madrid in the next round (1/4). Bundesliga's Leverkusen have failed to advance and Frankfurt trail Sporting on GD. If Sporting don't lose hosting Frankfurt, they are through and Frankfurt are out. Only 2/4 advancing is likely for the Germans. Among the Serie A clubs, Juventus have already crashed so the best they can do is 3/4. The EPL will have 4/4 of advance, unless the Spurs fumble. But that is the only "top 4" league doing better in the CL compared to Portugal. With Taremi on the pitch, Porto haven't lost a match in the CL this season. Before he was harshly sent-off against Atletico Madrid, Porto was outplaying the Spanish club and the score was level. Never mind they still were unlucky to lose in the last seconds even with 10 players. And of course Taremi was suspended in their 4:0 debacle at home against Club Brugge.