CD Santa Clara 1 Sporting CP 2
Clube Desportivo Santa Clara v Sporting CP
Saturday November 8th, 2025
Estádio de São Miguel
Matchday 11
The warm up
The two sides met three times last season in all competitions and thankfully nothing eventful happened in any of them so we don't have to rake over old coals. The end.
Well sadly that isn't quite true, so maybe one or two things may have occurred. There's a danger this could end up like Monty Pythons - so apart from that what have the Romans ever done for us? Rewind twelve months and this is the same week we beat Manchester City 4-1 in the Champions League and whilst we were counting down the games until Ruben Amorim departed for Manchester United it was still very much a case of what could possibly go wrong? Hit the fast forward button and skip through the 4-2 away win at Sporting Braga and the players throwing the departing mister in the air after the final whistle and we get to the part where João Pereira is steering the ship. It'll be fine, nothing to worry about. In the league the lions were not only unbeaten, they'd won all their games and the current league champions were sat top of the table. Despite having no top flight experience John Pear Tree was being groomed for the position as mister and natural heir to Amorim's throne and his Sporting B side, then in Liga 3, had been playing with the same formation as the first team. The suddenness of Amorim's departure meant that Pereira had no time to gain his requisite UEFA coaching licence so in effect he was the new mister only in name.
You know writing this now, the clues were certainly there as to what was going to happen if you'd chosen to look and you didn't really have to look that hard.
It started well enough mind you as we fast forward past his first game which ended in the 6-0 defeat of lowly Amarante. If you were of a generous nature you might even overlook having our arses handed to us 5-1 in the Champions League by Arsenal where the gulf in class and budgets was all too evident. Back to the safety of the Portuguese league and the fortress Estádio José Alvalade to welcome the Azorean's. Forget Arsenal, just don't shit the bed here. Only, we shit the bed and lost 1-0. The side who won every league game at home in the league winning campaign, the side who had won every league game to date had done the unthinkable and lost… to Santa Clara… fuck. Someone sound the alarms…
As dreadful games to watch go this ranked highly. It was a defending master class on the part of the islanders and a game where everything had to go perfectly for them and for nothing to go right for the lions and that's exactly what happened. They got sucker punched in the first half and despite throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the problem, there was no way back and Sporting suddenly appeared not just fallible, but incredibly fallible after all.
The two sides met for a second time, again at the José Alvalade, this time in the Taça de Portugal coming just 18 days after the league defeat. Lessons will have been learned, it'll be alright on the night. Unfortunately en route to the stadium they took the exit marked do it the hard way. The game was more akin to the fallout of a bitter divorce being played out in public than a game of football. Two yellow cards combined to make a red card for Ricardo Esgaio who wasn't even playing. You'd be forgiven for thinking we're really not helping ourselves here are we? Finally the deadlock broken through the baby faced assassin built like the proverbial wardrobe, Conrad Harder. The lions had scraped their way into the next round. Everyone could breath a sigh of relief. Except they couldn't as they got sucker punched again in the 7th minute of additional time to take the game into extra time. Finally we delivered the decisive blow from Gyökeres and this time they did hang on to the final whistle but not before Jeremiah St Juste had been sent off for a second yellow card. As I say, apart from all that, what have the Romans ever done for us? By now Santa Clara were really boiling my piss.
Hit fast forward to the end of the month and the problems were that sufficient that Pear Tree had done the honourable thing and fallen on his sword and been replaced by the current mister Rui Borges.
The two sides met again in the league in early April and despite the wobble in November and December and the mother of all injury crisis' that never seemed to end, Borges by some minor miracle had Sporting on course for back to back league title wins. This was the game that come the final whistle sparked the ire of Benfica fans irate at the non-award of a penalty against Quaresma. From the side view which anyone in a red shirt replayed and bemoaned the decision you'd suggest they maybe had a point albeit begrudgingly. Finally the TV company released the view from behind the goal which provided conclusive evidence that not only had Quaresma not come into contact with him, but he wasn't even fucking near him. We'll wait a long time for apologies from the dirty pigeons on that score. Nothing like being proved wrong when you're so vehemently adamant you were right. We have a old saying in England that seems really fitting at this juncture - cunts.
The lions came away with a 1-0 victory and were happily celebrating at the final whistle when the referee showed Conrad Harder a red card for the offence of saying yeah. Some shit you really could not make up. The red card unsurprisingly rescinded but only after the young Dane had already served his suspension for it. Because as we all know, Sporting CP have all the Portuguese referees in our pockets.
I'm not just writing this for dramatic effect when I say that Santa Clara were the worst team I clapped eyes on last season, that is my genuine belief. I gave them credit at the José Alvalade for their 1-0 win but fuck me how anyone could sit through watching them for 90 minutes every week one could only guess. Given their average attendance figure of 3,267 it's fair to suggest that most islanders shared my view and thats with the caveat that they qualified for the Europa Conference League. To date after 5 home games they've still not had enough bums on seats to fill their stadia combined once over. The Estádio de São Miguel (Ponta Delgada) with a capacity of 12,500. Total bums on seats this campaign 8,196 at an average of just 1,639. As a sidebar the stadium opened in 1976. Contesting their first official game which was a friendly, not any sides from the Azores, but instead the Lisboa Dérbi which I'm happy to report the lions won 4-3. The stadia is nothing more than a bowl sunk in the ground offset by views of the ocean behind which are far more appealing.
It was Santa Clara where we signed Hidemasa Morita from. Only the anoraks would recognise the name of Pedro Ferreira who now forms parts of their squad and came through the lions academy making a total of 15 appearances for the under 19s between 2014 and 2018.
If by some bizarre twist of fate I'd been made Minister for justice in Portugal last year the punishment I'd have handed out is a season ticket for Santa Clara. However that being said they were the club I used as my example when many were saying the reason Gyökeres scored so many goals was only because teams couldn't defend. Yes they can, look at Santa Clara as a prime example. Appears that was probably enough to deliver my famous kiss of death on them for this campaign if their midweek thumping 5-0 by Braga in the Taça da Liga is anything to go by. Sorry, not sorry.
Fast forward to the present day and it's the morning after we've beaten newly promoted Alverca at home in a game we registered 27 attempts to muster a 2-0 win. This is not a new phenomenon for the lions. In the 1-0 defeat last campaign the lions recorded 21 attempts to 4. They allowed one big chance which Vinícíus scored the only goal of the game from, missed their 2 big chances and ended up with an XG of 1.51 to 0.37. 571 accurate passes to 150 for Santa. Imagine that for me if you will that you have so little possession of the ball that on average per minute you don't even complete two passes between your players and you still come away with all three points. All of this is nothing new for Portuguese football though and given the disparities between Os Três Grandes and the clubs at the bottom, it's very much a case of needs must so I'm not knocking them. The lions issues never stem from not being able the fashion chances, they come from sticking the ball in to the net. You need different types of forward players because even Gyökeres only had the keys to unlock certain types of doors. Sometimes you need a Paulinho or as we found out last night, an Ioannidis with a slab of a head who can just stick in into the net from close range. Bollocks to the pretty stuff, just stick it high into the mixer and let those who can head a ball get on the end of it and try not to aim it at the head of João Simões.
Their campaign began in earnest on July 24th in the qualifying rounds of the conference League away to NK Varazdin where they lost 2-1. No me neither in fairness and no I can't be arsed to look up where they come from either as I doubt I'll ever write their name again unless it's in the transfer section. Santa won the return leg 2-0 the following Thursday to progress 3-2 on aggregate. 7 days on again and a 3-0 away to Larne was supplemented with a 0-0 draw at home to progress them into the next round.
Sandwiched in between those two qualifiers was their opening league fixture away to Famalicão which they promptly lost 3-0. I thought you said they could defend. Yeah about that …
Moreirense at home the following Sunday brought their second defeat, this time a narrower 1-0. You could forgive them for putting all their eggs in the European basket at this early stage, just remember being so close to the ocean don't leave them in the wind. Who left the fucking basket out in the wind? The fighting Irish left Santa with a bloodied nose as Shamrock Rovers took a 2-1 lead back to Ireland before compounding their misery with a 0-0 draw and their European adventure was over before it had even began proper.
Their first point on the board came in a 0-0 draw at home to Estrela-ela-ela. I've got the fits and shits at that one cause it that's genuinely the first option my phone now gives me upon typing the first four letters of their name in. Any new readers I should hasten to add it you're reading the name Doris and thinking wtf it's because my phone autocorrects Fotis to that and well I'm a lazy bastard and it amused me so greatly that it stayed. Anyhow, man of that match was one Renan Ribeiro. If you ever wondered what happened to him, well now you know, he's back in Rihanna country.
Four games in and their first win came away to Estoril 1-0. Despite going down to ten men early on at the Stadium of Shite and trailing 1-0 against the dirty pigeons going into additional time at the end of the 90, Otamendi did his best Scotty 2 Hotty impression, dropped the worm and allowed Vinícíus to run through and equalise and come away with a point so it's their fault in part we now have to put up with José Mourinho.
Another win, this time at home to newly promoted Alverca 2-1 though they left it late scoring in the 7th minute of additional time at the end of the 90. No such fortune against the other new kids on the block losing 2-1 to Tondela. Off to the races early against Vitória away 1-0 up after 5 minutes, they succumbed to 2 second half goals to lose 2-1. Restbite surely would come in the Taça de Portugal against lowly Espinho, but not quite. Both sides reduced to ten men, Santa with a one man advantage for the last half hour of normal time. The two sides couldn't be separated even when Anthony Carter was given his marching orders 7 minutes into time added on. Half an hour later and with the game finishing 0-0 AET Santa eventually progressed 4-2 on penalties.
Next up everyone's favourite opponent in AVS who they beat 2-0 at home and then up to date with the aforementioned 5-0 thumping this midweek away to Braga. They face Gil Vicente away in the Monday night fixture. Currently going into the weekend's fixtures they sit 9th in the table with a record of played 9, won 3, drawn 2, lost 4, scoring 8 and conceding 10. Santa will have the advantage of playing at home and a day's extra rest as the lions head to Italy on Tuesday to take on Juventus in the Champions League. Their home record to date played 5, won 2, drawn 1, lost 2, GF 5, GA 4. Behind on their XG of 12 by a third they've scored just 3 times from open play in their 9 games, 1 from a set piece and 50% coming from the penalty spot.
Top scorer is Vinícíus with 3, Araújo with 2 and Nunes, Silva and Wendel with a solitary goal a piece in the league. At the other end 3 clean sheets averaging 1 in every 3 before the weekend and lest we forget one of those coming against AVS. 14 big Opta defined big chances missed so no chances of toppling the current kings of that particular metric. No guesses needed for who that might be with 29, 11 ahead of Tondela who've missed 18 at the time of writing.
Vasco Matos, one of less than a handful of coaches not to have lost his job last campaign is still the mister which means we can envisage at least ten men behind the ball and a shit load of time wasting and play acting. Can't wait.
In the summer transfer window plenty of activity.
Incoming
Wendel from Porto B for £1.2m having originally joined on loan the previous window.
Anthony Carter from Alverca for free as him and his teammates all left bar one player as we learned in my recent post
Brenner also free from Alverca
Henrique Pereira free from Benfica B
Paulo Victor free from Farense
Douglas Borel signed as a free agent
Elias Manoel free from Botofogo RJ
Luquinhas £1.9m from Fortaleza
Cristian free from Alverca
Clearly missing Anthony Carter and Brenner already.
Finally Rodrigo Mendes free from Torino who presumably took one look at Franco Israel and concluded he was better off elsewhere.
17 of the 23 man squad foreign players, their average age 27, with just 1 international player on their books. Imagine that come international breaks when your mister has time to work on the training ground with your players. Now roll over and scream in agony. Muito bem. Now you take as much time as you can over the goal kick…
Like the Murphy's I'm not bitter when it comes to Santa Clara. Honest.
So as mentioned they are based in the Azores which are an archipelago of nine volcanic islands in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean some 1,400 kilometres west of mainland Portugal. At least they are part of Portuguese territory, it's not like asking the question of why the fuck Israel are allowed to play internationally in European competitions? The Azores are compared to the Hawaii of Europe so you'd be forgiven for flying in to watch the football as an away fan and thinking actually I think I'll skip it and spend 90 minutes doing something far better instead. São Miguel, home to Ponta Delgada is the largest island of the 9 and home to Santa Clara. I imagine Ponta Delgada said in the right tone can come across as swear words, why not give it a try when you're bored midway through this game. Their location means the team are the Westernmost club and in turn the Westernmost club to have ever played in Europe. I know right, fun fact. Here you'll find amongst other things the Forte de São Brás, a 16th century military fort which once protected the city from pirates. That sounds exciting doesn't it? Although to be fair it's probably not and maybe that's what the Santa Clara rearguard action is based on, a lot of men behind a large wall. Other fun activities available include whale watching, particularly sperm whales so if you get bored of watching Suárez and Gonçalves spunk chance after chance, you can go watch spunk of a different kind from the coastline. Good place to finish? OK fair enough.
Champions League Midweek Roundup
PSG v Bayern München
Two future opponents in action. PSG holders of the Champions League welcomed a Bayern team who'd won every fixture this season with 15 in total, 18 if you count pre-season friendlies. Luis Diaz got the Germans off to a blistering start as his shot from 10 yards found the net despite the best attempts of Marquinhos to clear on the line who could only deflect the ball into the net. More misery for the PSG captain who inexplicably lost possession in the 31st minute to the Colombian who slotted home from 12 yards to make it 0-2. That followed a disallowed goal on 21 for Dembele who was offside and Gnabry saw his shot on 30 minutes hit both the left and right post before going out to safety.
Bayern's night was made harder on the stroke of half time, Diaz initially shown a yellow for chopping down Hakimi from behind, then upgraded correctly to a red following the intervention of VAR. Still Bayern held on for their 16th win in all competitions despite the Portuguese substitute Neves’ volley into the ground from 8 yards which beat Neuer with the bounce to pull a goal back. Full time PSG 1 Bayern München 2.
Club Brugge v FC Barcelona
Next up for the lions the Belgian side Club Brugge who welcomed the current Spanish champions Barcelona. Dream start for the home side as they beat the offside trap with real ease, Forbs ball in from the right found Tresoldi who slid in to connect with the ball from ten yards to make it 1-0. Their lead lasted less than 2 minutes as Barca crossed from the right and Ferran Torres angled a shot into the ground and up into the net to equalise from 8 yards out. Forbs beat the offside trap again in the 16th minute. Incredibly Barca left one defender back and he was chasing shadows as the Portuguese swept home from 10 yards with the instep of his left foot. All too easy for the Belgians. On the hour mark a goal of genuine outstanding quality as Lamine Yamal dances between two defenders outside the area using both feet, Fermin Lopez with a little flick to give and go, Yamal goes between another two defenders and with the outside of his left boot guides it into the net from 6 yards. Level once more.
Forbs misses a guilt edged opportunity a minute later before making amends with another chance less than a minute later. He races past the last man AGAIN and dinks home from 16 yards. 3-2. Barca equalised a 3rd time as Tzolis tries to guide a Lamine Yamal cross out for a corner but could only watch in horror as it continued into the far corner of the net.
Full time Club Brugge 3 FC Barcelona 3
Newcastle v Athletic Club
Dan Burn gave the Geordies the lead on ten minutes with a powerful header unmarked on the left level with the penalty spot that seemed to defy physics and bend into the far corner. Joelinton consigned the Spaniards to their third defeat in four heading in from 6 yards on 48 minutes. They'll face Sporting in Matchday 8.
Full time Newcastle 2 Athletic Club 0
UEFA Youth League
Juventus v Sporting CP
Starting XI
Gouveia, Momade, Taibo, Felicíssimo, Costa, Camacho, Mendes, Bafdili, Grombhai, Martins and Gonçalves
Substitutes Used
Ferreira, Siza, Iago, Simão and Tomás
The under 19s kicked off at 1400 hours at the Juventus training ground on what appeared to be a plastic pitch which may or may not have gone out of fashion some time in the early 2000s before any of the players were even born.
Patryk Mazue swept home in the far corner from 7 yards on 10 minutes to give Juve the lead. That was doubled in the 25th minute through Marco Tiozzo whose effort appears to come in off the far post and into the net. Just the one camera angle so hard to tell. In the 28th minute Flávio Gonçalves rattled the Juve bar with an effort from 17 yards.
Half time Juventus 2 Sporting CP 0.
Flávio Gonçalves saw appeals for a penalty turned down as the lions desperately continued to try find a way back into the game. Finally on minute 87 Zaïd Bafdili pulled one back, slotting home from 8 yards into the bottom right hand corner. Flávio Gonçalves with 6 seconds of normal time remaining found the woodwork again with a free kick centrally from 25 yards which smacked the right hand post. Thankfully the ball dropped to substitute Paulo Simão who poked home from 7 yards with 4 seconds of normal time remaining.
Full time Juventus U19 2 Sporting CP U19 2
Sporting B
Penafiel v Sporting B
Starting XI
Callai, Silva, Muniz, Ramos, Moreira, Justo, Mendonça, Rayan, Blopa, Ribeiro and Nel.
Substitutes Used
Dias, Felicíssimo, Couto, Cardoso and Gonçalves
The home side went ahead on 33 minutes with a stunning strike from 20 yards by Gonçalo Negrao flew past Callai into the bottom right hand corner. The lions equalised on 52 minutes as Rafael Nel guided home a header from 7 yards into the bottom left hand corner from a José Silva cross from the right wing. The draw leaves them top of the table by 2 points from Torreense and 4 above União de Leiria in 3rd. Vizela who had kept the early pace at the top with the lions have now dropped down to 5th after ten rounds of Liga 2.
Full time Penafiel 1 Sporting B 1
In the markets
Santa Clara 6/1
Draw 10/3
Sporting CP 5/12
In the title race Porto evens money, Sporting 7/4, Benfica 2/1, Gil Vicente and the rest 250/1 or higher.
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