Sporting CP 6 F.C. Arouca 0

Sporting CP v F.C. Arouca

Sunday August 17th, 2025

Estádio José Alvalade

Matchday 2 

The warm up 

Sporting welcome Arouca to the Estádio José Alvalade for Matchday 2 of the 2025/26 season. Well in theory anyway given the fact that the turf has only just been relaid this past week and for most of the summer the pitch has looked like the club have been hosting a giant sandcastle building competition. Jamor is for now being touted as a possible venue for the game if the game cannot take place in Lisboa.*

Based in the Aveiro district in the north of Portugal, Arouca mirrors many of the smaller clubs you'd find in Lisboa in that it's having to compete for eyes against the lure of neighbours Porto who are based a 56km drive away. Their stadium has a capacity of just 5,600 in which they've failed to sell out a single game in their past two seasons in the top flight. Over 17 games last season they attracted 35,859 visitors meaning they sold just 37.67% of all tickets available averaging 2,109 spectators per game. This was however an improvement on the previous season where they totalled 33,067 visitors selling 34.73% of available tickets to average 1,945 spectators per game. These figures are hardly surprising given the town is reported to have a total population of around 22,500. For comparison that's like trying to sustain a football team from Truro in Cornwall as a Premier League Club. In the 24/25 season Accrington Stanley had the lowest average attendance of the 72 English football league clubs at 2,556 so the wolves are not even as well supported as England's smallest club and yet are able to sustain top flight football in Portugal. Tickets away at Casa Pia last week were just €15. I imagine Arouca will price their tickets around the same point although in fairness they may only have been as high as that for visit of the current league champions. Fans of Premier League teams will be going wtf at €15 being high. It's a contextual expression only. Given how small a club they are, the fact that their final league position in the 2024/25 season was 12th I think is highly creditable as they finished 11 points above the relegation places. Their record read; played 34, won 9, drawn 11, losing 14. Goals scored 35, conceded 49. On the road they won just 4 times, drew 5, losing 8. Goals for 19 with 30 goals conceded. If they're to repeat that relative success this season they'll need to mirror their home defensive record where they conceded just 19 times. 

The town is probably best known for its suspension bridge, the Arouca 516. The 516 isn't a reference to the club's total number of members I'm assured. It is, however, reportedly the world's largest pedestrian suspension bridge spanning 516 metres whilst hanging 175 metres above the River Paiva. As someone who has a natural aversion to going across any bridges, having watched a video of people walking across I had two words which weren't how impressive or I'm in and where instead fuck that. 

Arouca nicknamed Lobos (the wolves) is owned by Carlos Pinho. The 66 year old was recently given a suspended prison sentence having been found guilty of prevarication and forgery. The sentence of two years and eight months related to municipal works on the access road and track to the clubs stadium without the requisite contracts prior to the work being undertaken. The defendants in the case were fined a combined total of €2,810 and Pinho’s own company was fined for a cumulative period of 150 days at €150 per day totalling €22,500 for aggravated document forgery. And fans of some clubs moan that their owners figuratively are crooks. 

In the summer they sold former Sporting academy player Chico Lamba to Saint-Etienne for a reported fee of €8m. However the lions would benefit more from the deal having retained 50% of any future sell on value in addition to receiving their share of 5% solidarity payments paid on all transfers. In addition out went Jason to Al-Fayha on a free, Weverson to Fortaleza also on a free whilst Nuno Galovic was released. 

The money from Lamba’s sale has enabled them to invest £1.2m in the right sided midfielder Hyun-Ju Lee from German Bundesliga Champions Bayern Munich no less and Amadou Dante, a left back from Sturm Graz for the same fee. Mateo Flores DM has come in from Real Betis on loan, Striker Ivan Barbero from Deportivo la Coruna for a nominal fee of around £250k. Brian Pansilla, striker in from Peñarol for £664k, Dylan Nandini, striker from Racing Club, Jakub Vinarcik on a free from Juventus, Arnaud Solà LB from Almería on a free who will possibly line up against former teammate Luis Suárez next weekend. Nais Djouahra LW free from Rijeka and finally Boris Popovic CB on a free from Cercle Brugge. ***

Sporting v Arouca, or to give it the name it's more commonly referred to in Portugal as, the Dérbi de Esgaio, is a game the lions have traditionally dominated but not without the odd banana skin along the way. OK before we get to that, that's not what they call the fixture in Portugal, that's me prevaricating. Well maybe they do in the casa of Mãe and Pai Esgaio given Arouca player Tiago Esgaio is the younger brother of our own Ricardo. Good job I'm not in Portugal and don't have any roads to build. Mind you by the time the game is played Ricardo may not be a lion anymore as his name continues to be linked with a move away. He wasn't even included in the squad for matchday 1 away to Casa Pia. Did any of you reading this see the episode of the Simpsons where Bart gets sent to France and by osmosis finds he's suddenly fluent in French? Well I'm clearly still not there with Portuguese yet even after a decade or more of following Sporting but I'd like a bonus point for knowing home, Mum and Dad. Obrigado. 

The last time the two sides met was the somewhat infamous 2-2 draw in February at the José Alvalade which started with the hospital ball from close on half way from St Juste to Rui Silva who could only knock it into his own net to make the score 1-0 to the visitors. Conrad Harder equalises only for Sporting to concede a penalty in additional time at the end of the first half and go in 2-1 down at the break. Hjulmand was then sent off for a second yellow card just after the hour and finally rescued a point with a goal from Trincão. No repeat of that game on Domingo teatime por favor. Sim I'm practicing. Desculpe! Not as fucking sorry as St Juste mind you. 

The 3-0 away win in September under the then mister Amorim was a much more straightforward affair with goals from Gonçalves, Trincão and Gyökeres. The previous season the Lions did the double, again 3-0 away and 2-1 at home. In the 22/23 season the wolves pissed on the lions chips winning 1-0 at home and would have completed a famous double had Gonçalves not equalised in the final five minutes to rescue a point for the lions. All told, out of the last 19 competitive games in all competitions Arouca have won once to the lions 16. 

Top scorers last campaign were Henrique Araujo with 6, Alfonso Trezza and Jason each with 5. Just 8 clean sheets in total. 

A winning start for Lobos Arouca on Saturday night as they leapfrog Sporting and Gil Vicente to the top of the table with a 3-1 win over AVS. Alfonso Trezza headed the home side into an early lead from a Hyun-Ju Lee cross from the left wing. Nais Djouahra made it 2-0 after the break following poor defending and curled a superb effort into the bottom right hand corner from just inside the box. The pick of the goals and an early contender for goal of the season from Trezza to complete his brace. Again woeful defending from the visitors who had eight men back and failed to stop the run of Taichi Fukui and the ball lands at the feet of Trezza who unleashed an utter thunder bastard past Bertelli from the edge of the 18 yard box. Given they only managed 16 goals at home in 17 games last season that's a hell of a start this campaign. Nene grabbed a consolation goal for the visitors in the dying minutes of normal time capitalising on more poor defending to tap home at the far post. 

Friday night had see Sporting go top after their 2-0 win against Casa Pia. The geese were overrun for virtually the entire 90 minutes although they could have pulled a consolation goal in additional time that would barely have been deserved, one of just two shots on target conceded all night. Definitely one of those dangerous games for the keeper who's side is on top when you've got to try to stay alert despite not having anything to do for the best part of 88 minutes out of the 90. I struggle to pay attention for five minutes which is how these blogs were born because it means I have to pay attention to the game. 

I was thinking prior to kick off that the mister has a real headache in certain areas of the pitch now especially if you're going to play two centre backs. Inácio, Diomande, St Juste, Debast and Quaresma are all vying for those spots but I'll assume they try to sell St Juste before the end of the window though Diomande will probably now be on the sidelines for a month or more with a pulled hamstring. Left back sees Mangas, Reis and Araújo vying for one slot but like Diomande, Maxi came off injured and Reis is still suspended so only 1 game into the season Borges has a different headache. At right back we've not seen Vagiannidis yet, Fresneda kept his place for this game and rightly so, you've Esgaio, Travassos and you can probably add Quaresma to that list as well. Do you send the youngster back out on loan for another season? Esgaio is rumoured to being close out the door however a deal to Corinthians fell through on Tuesday. In midfield Hjulmand and Morita will most likely be the mainstays with Simões and Kochorashvili the backup options. Debast we know is an option after his switch last season, Bragança will at some point be back from injury and Edu Felicíssimo I'm guessing will be involved with Sporting B following their promotion to Liga 2. On the left wing Nuno Santos is still to return, Geny and Quenda have both operated on their un-preferred flank and Allison Santos was signed in the summer and talk continues over Jota Silva coming in potentially on loan from Nottingham Forest. Allison I believe is two footed and so gives an option wide right along with Geny and Quenda. Jota Silva could again fill the Gonçalves role if he comes in, Suárez and Harder will battle it out for the forward position so maybe we're short of a Trincão replacement. Let me know your own thoughts in the comments below. 

As a random fact for this fixture Sporting have developed a habit of not finishing this game at the José Alvalade with either a full compliment of players or coaching staff. In the 2-2 in February 25 as previously mentioned Hjulmand was sent off. Season before Diomande was sent off in the 1-1 draw and the season before that Ruben Amorim was sent off in additional time. 

Just to prove how inept the Portuguese footballing authorities can be, Conrad Harder has had his suspension overturned for his sending off following the use of the word Yeah. That's three months after he served the suspension. Couldn't make that shit up really. 

Sporting B

Following promotion to Liga 2 the young lions started their campaign on Saturday with a 1-0 win away to Torreense. The home side looked to have secured a point until Flávio Gonçalves' winner in the 89th minute, Mauro Cotto with the assist. Gonçalves strike from 16 yards flew past the keeper into the bottom left hand corner of the net and a finish of true quality from the youngster. 

Starting XI 

Diego Calai, João Muniz, David Moreira, Bruno Ramos, José Silva, Rayan Souza, Salvador Blopa, Mauro Couto, Manuel Mendonça, Rafael Nel and Samuel Justo. 

Substitutes 

Guilherme Pires, Rafael Pontelo, Rodrigo Dias, Flávio Gonçalves, Lucas Anjos, Eduardo Felicíssimo, Rafael Besugo, Gabriel Silva and Paulo Cardoso.

Sporting B back in action this Sunday at 11am to Uniao de Leiria who are managed by ex-Sporting coach Silas and are the ex-club of Allison Santos. 

Starting XI v União de Leiria 

Diego Calai, José Silva, Bruno Ramos, João Muniz, David Moreira, Samuel Justo, Rayan Lucas, Manuel Mendonça, Salvador Blopa, Mauro Couto and Rodrigo Ribeiro. 

Substitutes

Guilherme Pires, Rafael Pontelo, Rodrigo Dias, Flávio Gonçalves, Lucas Anjos, Eduardo Felicíssimo, Rafael Besugo, Gabriel Silva and Paulo Cardoso.

A Mauro Couto tap in four minutes into additional time at the end of the first half gives the lions all 3 points in a 1-0 win. 

Transfer News 

Sporting are likely to only bring one further player in during the summer window with the preferred option being the loan signing of Jota Silva from Nottingham Forest otherwise all other business will be departures.**

One confirmed departure that of youngster Henrique Arreíol to Legia Warsaw. Mainly found warming the bench during last season's injury crisis I wish the lad well in his future endeavours. 

Thursday update. Sporting have confirmed publicly that no first team players will now be sold. That comes of course with the caveat that Portuguese contracts come with an obligatory buyout clause which if met would scupper that statement. It does however all but guarantee any talk of Manchester United signing Hjulmand is nothing more than that - purely talk and that he'll be a lion for another twelve months. Let's not forget he's just got married in the summer, he and his new wife appear very happy in Lisbon and settled. He's captain of a Champions League, double league title winner and spent two years learning the language. Nothing shouts - I want away from this club before the end of the window. 

Friday update. Sporting busy spending the Gyökeres money again have confirmed they've purchased the remaining 50% of Trincão's contract from Barcelona for €11m which takes his total purchase price to €21m. 

* Monday August 12th update - confirmation game will indeed by held at the Estádio José Alvalade.

** Sporting have reportedly bid for the 22 year old winger Yeremay Hernández from Liga 2 side Deportivo la Coruña. Whether that means they've given up on the Jota Silva deal or are using as a ploy we wait to see. Forest reportedly willing to sell for a figure which matches around what they paid for the player last summer. Personally I would suggest the Hernández bid has shades of Ioannidis from last summer in that the club aren't willing to pay the release clause and Deportivo don't want to sell him for less. 

*** Busy week for the Lobos. More incoming signings with Omar Fayed CB coming in from Fenerbahçe on loan, Diogo Monteiro CB from Leeds for £374,000 and Martin Svidersky signed from Almería on a free. Outgoing Mamadou Loum Ndiaye to Sporting Gijon for £415,000.

In the markets 

Sporting CP 2/9

Draw 6/1

F.C. Arouca 8/1

In the outright markets the neighbours now 11/10 favourites to lift the title without kicking a ball on Matchday 1. Sporting drift to 5/4, Porto 7/2, Braga 33/1 and 200/1 or greater the rest. 

Team News 

Starting XI

Silva, Fresneda, Debast, Inácio, Mangas, Hjulmand, Morita, Geny, Trincão, Gonçalves and Suárez 

Substitutes 

Virgínia, Vagiannidis, Travassos, Quaresma, Quenda, Kochorashvili, Simões, Harder and Allison 

Two enforced changes to the starting XI following the injuries to Diomande and Araújo. Debast partners Inácio in the centre and Mangas makes his full debut on the left. No Dérbi de Esgaio as Ricardo is not in the matchday squad. That killed that joke flat. Reis is still missing from suspension, Bragança and Santos still out long term. Youngsters Simões and Travassos promoted to the matchday squad.

Arouca

1 Valido, 44 Dante, 5 Popovic, 3 Fontán, 78 Pinto, 21 Fukui, 89 Santos, 7 Djouahra, 14 Lee, 19 Trezza and 23 Nandín 

First half 

Sporting in their traditional green and white horizontal striped shirts. The Lions on a 22 game unbeaten run in the league having not lost since the 2-1 away defeat to Moreirense on December 5th. Last Friday I was bouncing all day for the game, today I'm full of anxiety. 

Arouca get us underway, Sporting attack right to left.

1 Sporting fail to capitalise on a break from Suárez in the centre. Arouca clear their lines wide right 

2 Plenty of early involvement wide right for Geny in the opening two minutes. He flashes a cross low into the six yard box which somehow evades everyone and out to safety 

4 I wonder how many people have gone into the barbers of Lisboa and said give me the Mangas. I'm imagining not fucking many 

5 Hjulmand with a long raking pass finds Mangas clear on the left. His pass however is straight to a defender and the move breaks down 

7 Geny causing problems again down the right hand side. Arouca defender has to stretch to clear the pass inside the area 

8 Trincão wide left wins a throw. There's something you wouldn't have seen last two seasons 

9 Morita now getting more involved in the centre last two minutes

10 Interesting to see how narrow Arouca are in the centre of the pitch from back to front out of possession and are happy for Sporting to have the space out wide on either flanks 

12 Geny again causing issues. He beats his marker but his cross is put out for a corner 

12 Foul awarded against Suárez on Valido. Far be it for me to suggest that keepers get far too much protection but I didn't see much wrong with that

14 Djouahra with the games first attempt from 20 yards blocked by Fresneda alert to the danger centrally 

15 Rare mistake from Hjulmand in midfield who rather inexplicably passes the ball to an opponent 

16 A sign of how exciting the game is as we're treated to half a minute of Esgaio, Reis and Diomande in the stands. 

17 I predicted 2-0 for this game and even that appears a stretch at the moment 

17 Geny goes for the nutmeg on Dante but the left back concedes another corner which again is cleared to safety. Anything good is coming through the Mozambique international 

19 GOAL Sporting CP 1 Arouca 0. Claims for a penalty in the buildup as Valido rushed off his line and wiped out Suárez. Loose ball broke to lifelong Sporting fan Mangas who's shot from ten yards goes off a defender and into the net. It wasn't pretty but advantage well played by the referee 

21 Poor ball in from Mangas on the edge of the box goes straight out of play for a goal kick 

22 Djouahra with a hint of desperation in his attempt from 24 yards that trickles low and wide for a goal kick 

23 Yellow Fresneda for remonstrating with the assistant on the far side. Both bookings for Sporting this season for dissent about decisions 

25 I'm never sure why the club put out statements that the game is a sell out. Plenty of space in the stands 

25 Suárez goes down wide left under a sliding challenge from Santos. Whistles from the home fans as no yellow shown 

26 Sporting have a player down in the box following the Gonçalves free kick. Inácio the player. Close up of the stud marks that are being treated. Looks painful. Referee has gone to the monitor. High boot into the head of Inácio who had his head ducked trying to connect with the ball

29 Nandín shown the red card and Sporting awarded a penalty. I'd be upset if I was the player and an Arouca fan. 

30 GOAL Sporting CP 2 Arouca 0. Suárez opens his account as a lion. Smashes home into the bottom left hand corner. Well as I was saying on minute 17, 2-0 looks a stretch in this game. What do I know?

34 So incredibly with just the two attempts in the opening 34 minutes both have been scored. Arouca had barely made it over the half way line with eleven men. They're in for a long remaining 55 minutes 

39 Debast concedes a free kick for a foul on Trezza 

40 Free kick straight into the arms of Silva. I thought Sporting were notoriously bad at set pieces 

41 Double chance as first Suárez attempt is blocked from 9 yards, Gonçalves hoofs his attempt over from 11 yards. Poor from both players. 

42 Fresneda does a little mime of locking his mouth and throws away the key. Subtle but effective dig at the match official nonetheless

44 Debast with a thunder bastard from fully 30 yards brings a diving save from Valido. That boy can strike a ball like a golf pro

44 GOAL Sporting CP 3 Arouca 0. Stunning goal from Trincão inches inside the area who whips it into the right hand side of the net

Plus three shown 

+1 Fontán with a shove on Geny in the box goes unpunished. That looked more of a penalty than the one given

Half time 

Sporting CP 3 Arouca 0 

In the 2-2 in February Sporting recorded 21 attempts, 9 off target, 8 on and 4 blocked. The season before at the José Alvalade which finished 2-1 they had 13 attempts, 7 off, 5 on and 1 blocked and a high the season before that in the 1-1 with 26 attempts, 11 off, 5 on and 10 blocked. Up until the last five minutes of the half it appeared that the lions would go in having just had the two attempts with a 2-0 lead. In the end six attempts and three goals scored. Trincão with the pick of the finishes. 

The performance of Geny the main highlight for the lions in what has been an opening 45 lacking in quality but packed full of drama. The sending off was harsh and made Arouca’s task all the more impossible. It makes a change for the opposition to be reduced to ten however after the last two games against the Lobos at the Alvalade. 

Silva and the defence quite literally have had nothing to do. Sporting's issue has been with the final ball but this season we've at least seen a mix up in the buildup play with options centrally as well as from both flanks. Mangas claims his debut goal but his crossing in particular leaves a lot to be desired. An odd summary in that Sporting haven't even really gotten into first gear, it's like someone let the handbrake off on a hill and yet they're three goals to the good. Can they turn the screw in the second half and put on a show?

Second half 

Sporting get us back underway. ➡️⬅️Fresneda replaced by Vagiannidis. One Esgaio on the pitch as Tiago replaces Lee. 

45 Debast clears from the first attack. VAR check for Vagiannidis shoulder into an Arouca player quickly waved away and rightly so 

47 Gonçalves fires into the stand behind the goal from 21 yards and sends an old lady diving to her right clutching her drink in fear. Other than the Trincão finish that's the highlight of the game for me 

48 Gonçalves must know I need him to have a shot on target to win my bet as he shanks another effort over the bar from 17 yards

49 Trincão shot from 20 yards blocked 

49 GOAL Sporting CP 4 Arouca 0. Mangas with the home debut he will have dreamt about since he was knee high taps home from 8 yards from a Vagiannidis cross inside the box 

52 Lions top the table level with Braga with a goal difference of plus 6 a piece. 

52 Suárez with a superb dribble into the area. Esgaio does enough to force the striker to shoot wide. That would have been some goal had he scored from 15 yards 

54 Fukui effort from 20 yards deflected for a corner 

55 Despite it being 4-0 there's a strangely subdued atmosphere tonight despite the efforts of some in attendance 

56 ➡️ ⬅️ Geny replaced by Quenda 

57 Debast has shades of Mathieu to his game. He looks like he's playing in slippers at times 

57 Quenda draws a free kick from Fontán 

58 Much better ball in from Mangas found the head of Suárez who couldn't get it on target on the edge of the six yard box. Should have been 5-0

60 Little give and goes by Vagiannidis wide right. Simple but incredibly effective all the same 

61 GOAL Sporting CP 5 Arouca 0. Quenda makes up for a misplaced pass seconds before as he finds Suárez with a perfectly weighted ball which the Colombian smashed home from ten yards. That more than made up for his headed miss minutes before 

63 Close up on the Arouca bench. It's a scene of despair. Despite 13 new faces in this summer they find themselves 5-0 down to the reigning champions with 25 to play 

64 Popovic catches the heel of Suárez. Free kick awarded only 

66 Valido came charging out of his area but Hjulmand unable to take advantage 

68 Dante shoots from the edge of the 18 yard box but instead of going goalwards slices straight out to the right. Sums up the Lobos’ night 

69 Movement on the Sporting bench. 

70 Alex Pinto crashes into the advertising hoardings behind the goal. Something needs to be done about the positioning of the flat adverts because someone is going to get seriously injured on one of those things. Fresneda nearly came a cropper first half. I'm sure Diomande came into contact with one when he was injured at Casa Pia. 

72 ➡️ ⬅️ Harder and Kochorashvili replace Gonçalves and Morita. There goes my bet. Be interesting to see if the Dane has a chance with Suárez open does he pass or take it 

74 Harder with a double chance. First wide open from 15 yards and then with the rebound from 10 yards, both efforts saved. Corner near side 

75 GOAL Sporting CP 6 Arouca 0. Quenda with a nutmeg found Trincão whose shot from 16 yards deflects off a defender past Valido into the net 

77 On this day in 2024 the lions won 6-1 against Nacional. Clearly something about August 17th

78 Allison being run through his last instructions on the bench 

80 ➡️⬅️ Huge round of applause as Suárez replaced by Allison. The Colombian has matched the brace on his home debut scored by Gyökeres against Vizela in the 23/24 season 

82 Close up of Borges giving his new forward a huge pat on the back and he's all smiles

82 Shot on target for the visitors straight at Silva from Puche outside the area 

84 Valido doing some ground work around his left post. Someone's getting sacked in the morning. In fairness despite the new lawn that's been the only sign of any issues with it. Quite a way to christen it with six goals 

86 Allison beats his man and then gets eaten by the pitch. Still the home fans cheer the first action to beat his marker. OK so apart from the turf by the goal post and the bit that just ate Allison...

85 Quenda brings an easy save low from 20 yards 

87 Cries of Sporting, Sporting ring out from all four corners. 

88 Valido out of his area again to clear the lines 

89 Quenda wins a corner near side. Patience from the youngster as he waited for an opportunity to present itself 

Plus three shown

90 Debast found from the corner on the edge of the area, his volley into the ground brings a save from Valido

+2 Another close up of the Arouca bench. It's going to be a long journey home to the north for them 

Full time 

Sporting CP 6 Arouca 0

The final word 

I posted on X last night just after midnight someone was going to get shafted by the referee Helder Malheiro and so it transpired. Fortunately it wasn't us for a change. The sending off killed the game as a spectacle it's fair to say. Still you can only beat what is in front of you and they did a grand job of that to go top of the table. 

It has to be noted the only player who didn't bring anything to the game from an attacking sense from the lions was Rui Silva. Come on Rui must do better. I'll give you the two clean sheets to start the season and staying awake for a full 90 with little to do. Trying to defend against a team like that with a full compliment of players is hard enough, with ten men as we've just witnessed you're on the end of a hiding. 

On a day where the outgoing King of Portuguese football was lambasted from all quarters for his debut in England there's more than a sense of irony that Sporting should score six and that three players scored a brace. He'll have better games we know that and the test in this league for Sporting will come in the Clássico or the Dérbi. There's no gloating from me just a wry smile and a nod to karma in the way someone engineered their move away when they could have had a full pre season and 180 minutes in their legs before making their Premier League debut. Just saying. 

Despite Rui Silva only having the one save to make what little the defence had to do they did it well and Debast looked fantastic at the back for me all night. Mangas proved he can at least put a decent cross in from the left when he found Suárez but there's still a question mark over him but when your score a brace on your home debut you can forgive a lot. On the other flank Fresneda continues to be solid and his change at half time owed much to the comfortable scoreline and the fact he was on a yellow card. Vagiannidis looks incredibly composed on the ball and apart from one misplaced pass in the final third looked good. Proof that two players can drive each other on with competition for a spot.

Everything good for Sporting came from Geny in the first half but he burned out early in the second. I think the penny is finally dropping for Quenda that he needs to start to show an end product. Misplaced passes again were infuriating at times but the assist for the Suárez goal was great and I really liked the way he kept holding off looking for his pass when he won the corner late on. More of that version of Quenda please. 

Hjulmand and Morita saw enough of the ball but neither really had a great overall effect on the outcome of the game but they did enough to nullify any threat in the central areas. 

Gonçalves had a night to forget. His shooting can be appalling at points as the poor woman clutching her drink in the stand will testify too. Trincão had a relatively quiet night by comparison and yet comes away with a brace with a tidy finish first half and a fortunate second but they all count. Harder with more time on the pitch would have done better with his two chances but unlike Gonçalves who didn't muster a single effort on target at least his were both goal bound. Allison looks like he's just holding back on himself right now. Almost as if he's second guessing himself. The one time he did go for it he lost his footing but importantly he lost his marker and we'll see how he develops. Arouca were out on their feet by that point in the match and Gonçalves negative body language was only beaten by that of the Arouca players on the bench who all looked like they couldn't wait to get changed and go home. 

Overall the lions performance was probably only a 6 or 7 out of 10 overall. But when you're playing a 2 or 3 out of 10 that's clearly enough. Which leaves my shortlist of four for man of the match. I'm going to go with Debast at the back because everything he did was great. I'll forgive his volley into the ground late on because even that was on target. Geny would have been in with a shout for the opening half but just edged out. It's hard to look past the goalscorers for the other three spots. Trincão as already mentioned had a relatively quiet game and yet still scores twice. Mangas again scores a brace, his positional play is decent albeit that may have owed much to the fact that Arouca allow the space on the wings and squeeze in centrally but a great home debut nonetheless. Which leaves Suárez. Whether he feels the pressure of replacing Gyökeres only he can tell you. I've not written once that he's a direct replacement. Like Harder he's his own man. I will judge both players on their end products not on what came before them. I don't think there's any reason to doubt that a penalty wouldn't have been awarded for the foul on him in the buildup to the opener had the referee not played the advantage. He struck the penalty really well, his finish for his second and the turn into the box and strength to hold off his marker alongside the finish was incredibly impressive. His run into the box second half was a joy to watch even if the finish didn't match the original skill. Overall the Colombian does enough for me to be given my man of the match.

Viktor who?

When they put the club highlights together this week I hope they soundtrack it with the Pasadenas I'm doing fine now. 

Oh wow the clubs four choices for man of the match, matches mine. That never happens.