Sporting CP 4 Nottingham Forest 1
Sporting CP v Nottingham Forest
Pre season Friendly
31st July 2026
Algarve
The Warm up
I wonder what the mister Rui Borges' requisites were for choosing pre-season opponents for the 2026/27 season. Give me two clubs who had four coaches in the 2025/26 season and two from France who either currently don't reside in France itself or who historically have resided in a different country. If that was the case then whoever did the bookings has excelled themselves. For alongside Glasgow Celtic who went from Brendan Rodgers to Martin O'Neill, Willfred Nancy and back to Martin O'Neill, we've added Nottingham Forest who went from Nuno Espírito Santo who was sacked on September 8th, Ange Postecoglu sacked after 39 days on October 20th (that's 6 days more than Nancy managed btw), Sean Dyche sacked on February 12th with Vítor Pereira taking over on February 15th. And you thought we had a busy season with swapping misters in the 2024/25 season.
Given we've not even kicked a ball yet and André Villas-Boas has already confirmed that Varandas and Sporting have been living rent free in his head all summer with an interview he did recently, perhaps the real reason we're playing Forest is because they dumped FC Porto out of Europe. Now that's clearly a joke but you could actually imagine Porto welcoming Arsenal for that exact same reason. Maybe their owner is fed up of watching his Rio Ave team lose to the lions and was the one who requested the fixture in reverse?
You have to imagine that last season may have aged more than a handful of Forest fans somewhat prematurely, what with their four changes of mister, battling relegation from the Premier League and incredibly despite all that a run to the Europa League semi finals. One thing you cannot accuse the club of being last season is dull even if for long periods they were making headlines for all the wrong reasons. There was definitely a sense of karmidic justice handed out to the club having taken Crystal Palace’s place in the Europa League whilst the London club took their place in the Europa Conference League. Palace would them not only go onto win that tournament with Forest going out in the semi finals but by virtue of that win, they'd go on to qualify for this season's Europa League. There's a huge degree of truth in the statement of being careful what you wish for.
The club were founded in 1865 making them an incredible 161 years old. They're currently owned by Evangelos Maranakis who also counts Olympiacos and Rio Ave amongst the other clubs he owns. He was spotted at the last Portuguese fixture between the two sides and gave a Romanesque thumbs down to one of the goals scored by the lions whilst still clinging onto a fat cigar in his executive box. Also famed for having a Steve Jobs style wardrobe albeit he seems to just own very large white t-shirts rather than black rollneck tops. Most commonly known as Forest, they're also known as The Garibaldi's, The Reds and the Tricky Trees though I'd never heard of the last one until this last campaign ironically enough so maybe it's a local thing? Home, for now at least is the 30,445 capacity City Ground though if memory serves me correctly the owner did have a falling out with the council over the ground in quite recent memory and threatened to build them a new home.
Currently they're still coached by Vítor Pereira though by the time I'd written the Celtic post and mentioned Hearts boss Derek McInnes and put it up online he'd fucked off to Rangers and similarly Gary O’Neil at Strasbourg also looks like he's off to Ipswich Town before we play the, so that may have also been corrected by the time we play Forest especially given their penchant for change in the dugout. He has in a past life been the mister of both Santa Clara and FC Porto amongst a host of others.
They were formed by a group of shinty players which is something I've never written before in my life though oddly I watched a lot of hours of it as a kid as well as hurling and Gaelic football much to my disgust when my Granddad came to visit. In their early years they followed the tradition of European clubs such as Sporting playing in various disciplines alongside association football (more commonly known as soccer to distinguish itself from rugby football - rugger). Bandy and Baseball were another two sports they were well established in during their early days. Neighbours Notts County famously donated some of their black and white kit to Juventus which they still have as their kit colour choice to this very day and clearly Nottingham was a very kind hearted community with Forest donating their red kit to Arsenal when the London club was formed. Nottingham - international trend setters and also home I believe to fashion designer Paul Smith so there's something in the water.
I don't think I'm being rude to our opponents when I say they're probably best known on the world footballing stage for the period under legendary managerial duo of Brian Clough and Peter Taylor. Under their stewardship they won back to back European Cup finals (now Champions League) in 1979 and 1980 if that feet wasn't remarkable enough it has to be noted that in the 1976/77 season Forest were still only a second division side (Now Championship). They then won the 1977/78 First Division title (now Premier League) which is what allowed qualification to Europe's elite cup competition. These were the days when only the domestic Champions would qualify, none of this modern day nonsense where the Premier League can potentially have five or six teams depending on various permutations. Sporting of course owe their automatic qualification to Aston Villa beating Manchester City on the last day. I won't remind Sportinguista's what we were doing on the same day. Clough inadvertently made Trevor Francis the first million pound footballer in English football although he tried to get the deal done for £999,999 so as not to let it go to the players head. The 15% commission actually took the deal to £1,150,000 so that one backfired. Clough would stay with the club all the way until 1993 by which time their heyday was long since done. In 1999 they were relegated back to the second division.
On May 18th, 2017 Marinakis took ownership of the club. He would spend the best part of five seasons firing more coaches including Martin O’Neill who'll be bringing his Celtic side to the Algarve this summer, until finally in the 2021/22 season Steve Cooper proved to finally be the right man to lead them back to the top flight of English football, doing it via the play offs. I lost count of how many players Alverca signed last summer but Forest would have come close when they signed 21 new players in their first season back in the top flight of English football. Cooper lasted until December 2023 when he was replaced by the Portuguese coach Nuno Espírito Santos. He came so close to taking the club into the Champions League but results tailed off dramatically towards the end of the campaign but as previously mentioned they benefited from taking Palace's place in the Europa League. That stemmed from John Textor being a part owner of both Palace and Ligue 1 side Lyon who has also qualified for the same competition. That's the same Lyon who Ligue 1 bosses had penalised and kicked out of the French top flight for financial irregularities and truthfully they shouldn't have been readmitted or given a licence to play in Europe meaning Textor’s part ownership in Palace would have therefore been irrelevant and Forest iwould have had to have played in the Conference League. Still it all worked out for Palace in the end. They got shot of Textor as an added bonus as did Lyon. Their finances of course helped by flipping Afonso Moreira this summer. Let's hope we're haven't shot ourselves in the foot for a third season straight after Mateus Fernandes and Moreira, with the sale of Diogo Travossos to Sporting Braga for a bag of peanuts.
Forest will of course come closer to the lions this summer than Jota Silva actually achieved last summer. After weeks of indecisiveness on the lions part they finally tried to get his signing done on deadline day only to submit the paperwork too late. We can only wonder as to what his impact might have been.
Forest finished last season in 16th place, five points above the relegation zone. Their record played 38, won 11, drawn 11, lost 16, GF 48, GA 51. They're set to lose star player Elliot Anderson when he returns to the country after the World Cup with England. He's set for a 9 figure transfer fee with Manchester City his most likely destination though United have been reportedly interested in his services as well. Depending on how far England progress in the tournament it's highly unlikely that he wouldn't be on holiday when this fixture is played even if he is still a Forest player. One imagines they'll also face a task to keep hold of Morgan Gibbs-White who was subject to a bid from Tottenham last summer. You have to imagine however they there may be one or two faces who get left behind in Portugal and turn up playing for sister club Rio Ave over the next twelve months.
The two sides have met just the once before, that coming in a pre-season friendly way back in 2009 when Forest won 1-0.
We'll leave the last word for now to Martim Fernandes whose incredible long range own goal helped Forest to beat FC Porto 2-1 over two legs. Yes it's petty but compared to the fucking nonsense from André Villas-Boas I'm not apologising for it.
Friday 26th update - the BBC are reporting that a deal has been struck with Manchester City for the services of midfielder Elliot Anderson for a reported £116m.
July 1st update - Sensational news as Vítor Pereira set to be replaced by former Crystal Palace boss Oliver Glasner making him their fourth mister in the past twelve months.
3rd July - Full admission, despite living in England I don't watch the Premier League and whilst not completely ignorant to what's going on, some of the minutiae does past me by. Like the sale of Elliot Anderson from Newcastle United to Nottingham Forest. I have a vague recollection of his sale being for FFP calculations now I've been reminded of it today but it wasn't something I'd held in my head marked as important, but in the week West Ham sold Mateus Fernandes for £85m just two seasons after he left the lions, the Anderson deal feels like one of the only ones where I think even worse business had been achieved by the development club of the player than of our own. The Geordies sold Anderson on the last day of the financial accounting year to Forest for £35m. Homegrown talent = £0 in one column, £35m booked in the next, very handy for financial fair play rules. However, as I learned today it Mr Marinakis had Newcastle over a barrel with their pants fully down around their ankles.
As a side to the Anderson deal, Forest managed to engineer a £20m move the other way for goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos for £20m. No I didn't have a clue either. Forest had signed him on a four year deal for just £5m the summer before where he made a grand total of 4 appearances. So their amortisation would have been £1.25m per financial year over the length of his contract. They'd have booked £15m a year later plus importantly trebling their money paid with their original investment returned. He made one appearance for Newcastle before being sent out on loan. Forest signed Anderson on a five year deal so they'd have amortised it for £7m per season but in effect they got him for £15m plus to add insult to injury knowing that Newcastle needed the deal doing on the last day of the financial year, crucially they didn't allow Newcastle to include a sell on clause which is basically standard fair for any youngster sold. So not only have Forest managed to sell him for £116m to Manchester City, other than agents fees and solidarity payments due for development, they've done an incredible turn of business. I only mention it because it made me feel slightly better about the Fernandes deal and the Afonso Moreira deal to Lyon last summer where at least we had a 10% sell on clause on both plus the solidarity payments for player development. Yes we've shot ourselves in the foot spectacularly from a financial sense but we could have been Newcastle with Anderson.
My fear at present is that we're again blocking the development paths of our players. Seeing them develop and leave is hard enough - think Nuno Mendes as an example, but never seeing them or rarely at all feels so much worse - Fernandes, Travossos, Essugo, Moreira and Ribeiro to name five from the past two seasons alone. I'm curious to know where Simões fits into Rui Borges plans for the forthcoming season with the signings of Doumbia, Altimira, Lima and Silas. He's certainly streaks ahead of Felicíssimo in terms of development who'll be held back another season with Sporting B. I fear he'll be the next name on the list of youngsters we'll end up watching someone else get the benefit from short term and then financially in the medium to long term.
22nd July - Forest followed up their 2-0 won against Neighbours Notts County with a 3-0 win over Blackburn Rovers. For the second straight game they made a full change to the starting XI much like Strasbourg did on Monday night. Goals from Jesus, Kalimuendo-Muinga (he must have some broad shoulders of a small font on the back of his shirt) and Awoniyi. Incidentally the first two goalscorers also scored against Notts last time out.
Forest are also inching closer to spending some of the Elliot Anderson money - on Ousmane Diomande. Oh nooooo. Sad times. Ibrahima Ba who was linked with the lions, announced as having signed for RC Strasbourg only for the deal to fall through, has apparently now been announced as Diomande's direct replacement... clearly pending a medical.
24th July - Finally a new signing. Still not spent any of the Anderson money mind you. Xaver Schlager has been picked up as a free agent. The Austrian central midfielder was latterly at RB Leipzig between 2022 and 2026. He has 55 caps at international level, scoring 4 times. How long before the fans give him an Underworld - Born Slippy chant?
26th July - Forest draw 1-1 with Vitória in Portugal. Igor Jesus scoring for the third pre-season game in a row. Miguel Nogueira equalised from the penalty spot. They are also due to play Portimonense behind closed doors before they meet the lions on Friday. Last night's win against AS Monaco for the lions was watched by Ousmane Diomande from the stands. Perhaps Forest will be doing some duty free and taking him back with 200 Bensons and a case of wine?
30th July - We're still awaiting confirmation on the Diomande deal to Forest to be concluded. I wonder if it's something to do with accounting periods. Nothing surprises me in football any more. We also await official confirmation that Gustavo Sá has signed with the midlanders only to then be loaned out to Olympiacos. He is at least now in Greece so that one appears to definately have legs. Forest's game against Portimonense takes place at 11am tomorrow. Given Sporting will regularly play twice in a day in pre-season I think we can safely say that will have some level of detriment to the squad that Forest put out against the lions in the evening and maybe this won't be the test I originally thought it might be when announced.
31st July - In their first game of the day Forest beat Portimonense 2-1. Awoniyi converted a first half penalty to give them a 1-0 lead at half time. João Reis equalised for the Portuguese before new signing Xaver Schlager's long range effort secured the win.
In the markets
Sporting CP 21/20
Draw 11/4
Nottingham Forest 17/10
Team News
Starting XI
Silva, Vagiannidis, Quaresma, Inácio, Araújo, Altimira, Silas, Doumbia, Geny, Zalazar and Ioannidis
Substitutes
Virgínia, Callai, Fresneda, Felicíssimo, Dias, Lima, Guilherme, Derry, Gonçalves and Nel.
Changes in the back line as Rui Silva returns in goal for Virgínia and Inácio comes in for the youngster Felicíssimo who had previously started in all three full pre-season games to date. One change in midfield as Silas replaces Flavio Gonçalves and up front Ioannidis replaces Nel for his first start since so long ago I couldn't even tell you. Suárez will play in a behind closed doors game tomorrow. Diomande, Pedro Gonçalves and Bragança didn't travel to Algarve as their exits move closer.
Nottingham Forest Starting XI
26 Sels, 3 Williams, 8 Domínguez, 10 Gibbs-White, 11 Wood, 19 Jesus, 23 Jair Cunha, 24 McAtee, 31 Milenković, 34 Aina, 44 Abbott
First Half
Inácio takes the captain's armband from Quaresma. Sporting in their traditional green and white horizontal stripes, Forest in red and white. Forest get us underway, the lions attack right to left
1 GOAL Wood sees his effort from a tight angle on the left initially saved by Rui Silva who palms the ball back into the six yard box. Jesus bumps Araújo off the ball and taps home from 2 yards. Sporting CP 0 Nottingham Forest 1. Dreadful start for the lions as his shot goes in-between Silva and Araújo. That felt like a comedy of errors
5 Zalazar unleashes a right foot effort from 20 yards that bounces before it reaches Sels. The keeper got his body in the way but it wasn't convincing. Corner near side.
5 The first corner is put behind once more for another corner near side. Doumbia can only guide the second corner out for a goal kick with a header from six yards
7 Vagiannidis uses his strength to bump Gibbs-White off the ball who was charging into the final third. No margin for error with that challenge
10 Forest playing with a back three more than happy to sit around the 36 yard mark in possession as they look to play out from the back
11 Williams penalised for a late lunge on Doumbia in midfield
12 Not for the first time a misplaced pass puts the lions defence under pressure but they eventually cleared their lines
12 Doumbia's 22 yard effort strikes the head of a defender and out for a corner far side
13 Double chance for the lions. Vagiannidis definitely had one of the efforts from inside the six yard box. The ball eventually goes out for a corner far side
13 GOAL Sporting CP 1 Nottingham Forest 1. Not that we saw it live. Inácio headed home from the corner from 7 yards for the equaliser. Wonderfully TVI were showing the previous chance and cut back to Inácio running away in celebration. Zalazar with the assist
17 Just a snapshot of how effortlessly Silas and Doumbia can turn on a six pence in possession as the lions look to build from the back
18 Wild effort from 20 yards by Gibbs-White ends up going out for a goal kick
19 Milenković penalised for a free kick on Ioannidis. He looks less than happy claiming the Greek had a large chunk of his shirt
20 Sels almost passes direct to Araújo in the final third but Forest get away with one
20 Zalazar's attempted cross headed out for a corner far side
21 Zalazar delivers the ball into the six yard box, this time Forest clear their lines
21 Sporting appeal for a penalty against Milenković. Not sure if it hit his arm but even if it did it was tucked down by his side. Correct decision. That came from good work down the left hand side, Araújo with the cross that struck the defender inside the box
25 Break in play as Jesus receives treatment following a coming together with Silas
26 Close up of Inácio who is dripping in sweat. Definitely another hot evening in the Algarve
28 Aina uses his strength to shepherd the ball out for a goal kick from Vagiannidis. Lads built like a wardrobe
28 Zalazar tries to cut open the Forest defence looking for Doumbia. The defender took no chances and conceded a corner near side
29 Williams leaves Zalazar in a heap near side as he went through the back of the Uruguayan
30 Free kick 27 yards out. Inácio went down appealing for a penalty but nothing given as he tried to stretch for the cross and failed to connect. The ball carried out of play for a goal kick
32 Good reading of the game from Araújo who intercepted a pass in the final third and looked to break but Forest cleared for a throw in
32 Brilliant from Silas who danced in between two Forest players and went on a run in the lions half. McAtee conceded the free kick to stop his progress
33 Altimira fouled by Gibbs-White. Third free kick in under a minute. This games getting scrappy
34 Great defending by Forest. Silas twisted and turned his marker 24 yards from goal and was about to enter the Forest box before a last ditch tackle by Domínguez took the ball away.
36 Quaresma nearly sold a pass short with Wood lurking but got away with one
37 Zalazar causing issues down the left. He over cooked his pass to Geny far right but a chance to twice see how quick the lad is over the first five yards in the build up
39 Shake of the head from Aina penalised for a foul on Geny far side. He can't have any complaints however as he clipped the Mozambique winger
39 Free kick 10 yards from the goal line far side from Araújo headed out for a corner near side. Close up of him and Zalazar before it was taken. Their hairdresser needs firing with dodgy highlights that belong in the 1980s
40 Forest clear their lines from the resulting corner with the ball across the half way line and the danger passes
41 Wood shows his strength to hold the ball up with two defenders by his side in the box. The lions manage to push Forest back
42 McAtee shot blocked from 24 yards on the turn. File that under ambitious
43 McAtee active again in the final third. He's becoming more key for the visitors as the half goes on
Plus one shown
Half time
Sporting CP 1 Nottingham Forest 1
Despite a horror start to the game the lions managed to regain their composure and find the equaliser. In fairness it was the only real opportunity from the visitors of note. Rui Silva looks like he's carrying a hangover from last season which saw him put in a poor performance against Torreense in his last appearance as a lion. Virgínia had certainly looked far more composed in all of his three appearances this pre-season. What had begun as an entertaining game in the opening half hour turned into a succession of niggly fouls in the last third of the half. The lions certainly with more chances overall but that's not to suggest that Forest haven't caused the lions issues however many times that has been of Sporting's own making with poor passes and decision making. Note to self it's still pre-season and baking hot in the Algarve. Silas Anderson continues to impress and has been the stand out operator for the lions to date.
Felicíssimo and Fresneda are both stripped and warming up at half time.
Before the equaliser it was actually a treble chance for the lions. Ioannidis shot was blocked from 7 yards, the ball flew up and his header was then blocked. Finally Inácio saw his effort from five yards turned out by the outstretched foot of Sels for the corner which led to the goal.
Second Half
➡️⬅️ Fresneda and Felicíssimo for Inácio and Vagiannidis. Virgínia also on for Rui Silva
The lions get us back underway.
46 The lions straight on the attack in the second half. Forest unable to get out their own half for the first 90 seconds but eventually are given a free kick
47 Jesus causing issues inside the lions box. Corner far side to the visitors
48 Woods sees two efforts blocked. How Forest haven't scored a second is anyone's guess. The corner from McAtee to the near post caused all sorts of issues. The ball broke to the far side to Woods who was about six yards from goal when he shot initially and the second effort from five yards. It was a poor punch by Virgínia at the near post that caused the original issue
50 Williams cross from the right headed over by Woods from 6 yards
50 Zalazar tries from 12 yards. He started his run from 12 yards inside his own half
51 Massive let off for Sporting. Virgínia smashes his clearance outside the area against Wood who with an open goal put the ball into the side netting from about seven yards to the left of the size yard box. The final chance wasn't even close either. What was I saying about the keeper looking more composed in the last three matches? Eek
52 End to end stuff as both sides look for a second goal. Definitely more entertaining now the temperature has started to drop post sunset on the Algarve
55 Aina flattens Geny just outside the Sporting box. Not sure how that wasn't a free kick. He is a proper unit
55 Better from Virgínia who claimed McAtee's cross from the right
57 Big save from Sels. Geny set Zalazar free on the right, he cut the ball back for the Greek whose goal bound effort into the top right hand corner from 12 yards was tipped wide for a corner near side
59 Noticeable that Forest are now defending in a 5 and half the distance they were at this stage in the first half
60 GOAL Sporting CP 2 Nottingham Forest 1. What a through ball from Zalazar who picked out Doumbia inside the area. The Italian turned Abbott with a delicious touch to open the space and he fired into the far corner from just outside the six yard box past Sels
62 ➡️⬅️ Silas, Geny, Ioannidis off
Nel, Derry and Guilherme on
64 Beautiful from Doumbia to turn inside his own half. Did I say this kid is going to be a superstar… wait…
64 GOAL Sporting CP 3 Nottingham Forest 1. Doumbia with an audacious lob over the Forest defence straight onto the head of Nel who steered the ball home from over the head of Sels from 8 yards. Forest look like they need to sign a decent centre back
70 Hydration break. How different the game could have been had Chris Woods steered home for Forest. We're treated to the Doumbia show whilst there's a break in play. This kid is the real deal
71 ➡️⬅️ Flavio Gonçalves on for Zalazar. Wink and a thumbs up from the Uruguayan
72 Gonçalves straight into the action but his run is blocked as he charged towards goal
75 Forest yet to make a substitution. They appear to have only six players on the bench having played against Portimonense this morning. Two of those are goalkeepers;
13 Victor, 63 Bott, 60 McDonnell, 6 Nwosu, 27 Richards and 29 Bakwa
78 Great pass from Nel to pick out Derry on the left. He shanks his effort high into the stands from 20 yards however
78 ⬅️➡️ Rodrigo Dias for Araújo and Lima for Doumbia
80 Aina cross from the right is slapped out the air by Virgínia but straight to Jesus. The Brazilian fires an effort straight at the keeper from ten yards
81 The locals have woken up in the stands. Appears one stand is singing to the other. One of them is definitely full of kids
83 GOAL Sporting CP 4 Nottingham Forest 1. Gonçalves set Nel away. His first touch looked heavy ten yards from goal but actually it was proved perfect as he slotted home between the legs of Sels from the edge of the six yard box to complete his brace
85 Good work from Dias on the left wing twisting his marker to make space for a cross which unfortunately could only find a red shirt
86 Lima forces a save from 8 yards from Sels. Corner far side
89 Gonçalves bends an effort wide from 19 yards. The commentator won't want to hear that again. His voice went so high dogs will have been barking. Maybe he reached puberty
Plus two shown
90 Altimira smashes a shot from 30 yards straight into a red shirt
+1 Williams runs back red faced and drenched in sweat. Behind him Quaresma who looks like he could play until Tuesday
Full time
Sporting CP 4 Nottingham Forest 1
The final word
I've added a caveat to every final score so far this pre-season so why change now. Previously it was that sides had only started their preparations later, this time around it will be that Forest played Portimonense this morning which appears to have backfired spectacularly given the heat and no options whatsoever off the bench. In fact they made no substitutions at all over the 90. It could have been different had Woods not missed an open goal. He won't want to see it again. However the lions were clinical in the second half in front of goal and fully deserved their win.
I was trying to count how many goals Sporting have scored in pre-season but I ran out of fingers and toes. I make it 21 in total with the four goals scored in addition in the games held behind closed doors. Six wins from six. We've no idea how they played against Torreense and Portimonense but they've been pretty ruthless in the four televised games against Celtic, Strasbourg, Monaco and tonight against Nottingham Forest. You can caveat each win against the strength of the opponent but the history books will still show four comfortable wins whatever the state of the opposition in their pre-season preparations. The lions certainly look far more ready than any of the sides mentioned. What a difference twelve months makes. A year ago they were struggling to get to grips with Rui Borges desire to change from a 3-4-3. No such issues this summer it has to be said. Forest gave the lions the most problems of any side they've faced though in fairness they didn't have to do a lot to leapfrog some of the other sides we've faced especially Strasbourg who lost by the odd goal in seven. The lions defence had seemed far more composed in each of those games as well. Tonight most of their problems were of their own making. Be that the opening goal with just a minute on the clock, poor passes out from defence in the opening 45, Virgínia firing his clearance against Woods and breathing a huge sigh of relief when the forward inexplicably fired into the side netting with an open goal at his mercy. But you fancy even if he had of scored the lions with options on the bench and more quality overall on the night would still have found a way to come away with the win. They're already displaying the sort of resilience we saw at the start of the 2023/24 season in the opening game when they came back to beat Vizela in time added on. That proved critical over the course of that season. We can only wait and see what happens this season but in the here and now there's plenty of cause for optimism though I'm not about to get carried away. On another night when the season is underway and results actually count for something those type of errors we've seen tonight from our own players won't go unpunished it's fair to suggest but confidence will rightly be high going into the game against Estrela who are a side in a whole heap of shit and you can see this iteration of Sporting running riot against them given half the chance. The irony is of course not been lost on me tonight that Forest are clearly in need of a decent centre back and could have had Ousmane Diomande line up against his current side tonight had they gotten the deal over the line. One assumes he's still going to Forest but having seen Ba be announced at Strasbourg only to sign for the lions I'll not bet my life on it.
So both our keepers failed to cover themselves in glory but I'm more worried about Rui Silva who finished last season in really poor form. He was involved throughout the first half as the lions played out from the back but the one thing he really got called upon to deal with was the shot which led to the opener. Maybe if it came on 45+1 he'd have dealt with it better? Who knows. In the buildup to the effort Vagiannidis stumbled and fell which led to the space for the chance. I'm not sure how tackle on Gibbs-White minutes later shouldn't have been a free kick and a booking so excuse what I wrote in the minute by minute. I think all of the defence was guilty of making poor passes or choices at one stage or another so don't let the scoreline convince you it was the perfect performance but in the end they got away with it when they needed to and were clinical in the opposition half.
I should probably also caveat that we've not seen last season's top goalscorer Luis Suárez once this pre-season since his return from the World Cup. However with Rafael Nel in cintilating form I'd have no qualms with the youngster starting the first game next week. We've a lot of players trying to click into gear. Lima has shown nothing and makes Kochorashvili look a better option but he's not really had more than the end of games to impress. Altimira seems to have enough about him but it's Silas and Doumbia that have stolen the show to date. Enjoy both players while you can Sportinguista's I don't think either player is going to be with us for more than 24 months. Doumbia especially is potentially going to be a superstar. You can make anyone look good in a two minute highlight reel which is why I don't watch them and reserve judgement until I've seen players pull on the green and white. New systems, new countries, new languages et al all have an impact but he's come flying out the gates and looks like his transfer fee will be an absolute bargain come the end of May if he replicates that form during the 2026/27 season. The same goes for Silas Anderson who looks great at both ends of the pitch. Doumbia has the arrogance and the swagger to make him a superstar but that doesn't mean the latter is any less impressive but you need that certain something to dominate the headlines and whatever that is, Doumbia has it in spades.
You can see the bond the two Uruguayans have with each other which I think will be huge for this season. I've still no idea where Zalazar plays. He's like Gyökeres in the respect that he'll go where he thinks he can cause maximum damage. He's clearly a leader, he's capable of scoring a bucket full of goals in this league as we've seen with Braga and a lot of players are going to benefit from his movement and a rapid turn of pace. I was rapid as a kid in defence but I don't think even I'd have gotten anywhere near him. I wouldn't even bother attempting to chase him as an old man nowp I'd just break.
Rui Borges still has some fine tuning to do. The board have work to do in the markets. Koindredi, Sotiris, Faye, Kochorashvili all on the exit list with only one appearing to have a viable exit plan in the Georgian. Diomande, Pedro Gonçalves and Daniel Bragança all frozen out of action tonight. I've no idea where Bragança is with a move. Certainly further away than the other two though if Borges didn't take him tonight maybe he's closer than I think and the deal is being kept out of the headlines which for me is how all good business should be conducted. But overall I don't think I could be happier with where we are right now. I feel infused which I wasn't at all before the Celtic game. We've played good football, scored a shit load of goals in the process and beaten everything put in our way. I'd argue we appear to be in better shape than Porto and Benfica but this is Portugal and the margins are fine and you only get three points for a win whether you win by one goal or four.
So let's wrap up tonight. Any minutes into Ioannidis’ legs are a bonus. Same with Fresneda in fairness. Araújo and Geny are getting closer to full fitness. Inácio returned and scored. The supporting goal tally from defence and midfield needs to significantly improve this season after last and so far has it ever. Flávio Gonçalves continues to impress, another assist tonight and his understanding with Nel can only be of benefit. He's above Derry in my pecking order. Borges is going to have to remind him that it's a team game and you'll get as much love for the assist here as for will for a goal. Speaking of goals Rafael Nel like Gonçalves has impressed me greatly throughout pre-season and I really hope they both get a proper chance to show what they can do and not with little 5 to 15 minute cameos at the end of games.
Right let's go for my four votes for man of the match. Vote one goes to Rafael Nel, two goals, two clinical finishes. On current form he's the number one choice to start as striker against Estrela. Give him at least the first hour next week with Suárez and Ioannidis as options off the bench. Vote two goes to Zalazar. Still not 100% fit but caused all sorts of issues with his pace and he's not afraid to grab a game by the scruff of the neck and stick it to the opposition midfielders and defenders. If he's phased by being the clubs record signing I can promise you he's not showing it on any level, in fact he seems to be embracing it. Vote three - my stand out player at half time Silas Anderson. He's one of those players I'd actually like to see on a player cam for a full 90 minutes because I think it's sometimes easy to miss just how good he is on the ball. You watch him turn like a ballet dancer and off he goes which is a huge skill to have and he can turn and beat players in addition. On any other night he'd get my man of the match, however… vote four goes to Issa Doumbia. He did everything that Silas Anderson did but added a superbly taken goal and an assist that just took the absolute fucking piss. You've been Doumbia’d. I had a football game as a kid where you had a player with a curved foot and you'd balance the ball on it and press a button and it would lob it up in the air exactly how he did it. So much nonchalance in that pass and I'm here for it every day of the week. What a joy this kid is to watch. Can he do it in the Champions League on a Wednesday night against European best? I wouldn't bet against him. I have a feeling he's going to be my man of the match an awful lot of times between now and May.
