Rio Ave 0 Sporting CP 4



Rio Ave v Sporting CP
August 30th, 2026
Estádio dos Arcos
Matchday 4
Referee: Bruno Costa

The warm up

It's May 11th, 2025 and at the Estádio dos Arcos, Vila do Conde home of Rio Ave F.C. there's an interested onlooker from behind the glass window of one of the stadium's executive boxes clutching a cigar in one of his hands. If the man had been impressed by the opening goal from Brazilian Diogo Bezerra to put Ave 1-0 up against Sporting CP then the TV cameras weren't focused on him to show it. However in the 42nd minute they did pan to him moments after Sporting had turned the game around to now lead 2-1 and we watched as he gave a dismissive wave of his free hand, the other still clutching firmly onto one of his lit cigars. The whole scene had the feel of a Roman Emperor watching on from a lofted position and clearly he was less than entertained by what he'd just witnessed. Eventually Ave despite taking a twelfth minute lead would lose the game against Sporting CP 4-1 and worse still for them finish with just nine men. Their players grateful that this wasn't really Rome back in the days of Gladiators where they could have lost their lives, although you imagine they'd still all be keen to avoid the modern day equivalent of the Emperor after the game if they could. That man watching on was the Greek billionaire Evangelos Marinakis, owner of Rio Ave, Premier League Nottingham Forest and Olympiacos in Greece.

From all appearances, Marinakis is not a man you want to get on the wrong side of, especially if your pay cheque is dependent on him at the end of the month. Ask Nuno Espírito Santos, Ange Postecoglu, Sean Dyche and Vítor Pereira who all in the space of one year were replaced as the mister of Nottingham Forest as they battled to avoid the drop to the Championship. Nuno Espírito Santos had started the season in charge off the back of leading the club into Europe from its highest top flight finish in decades but the pair had a disagreement so he was out the door quick sharp, his successes quickly forgotten. Woe betide anyone that falls on the wrong side of the Greek billionaire. 

Marinakis isn't just wealthy, he's seriously wealthy. Forbes estimate he and his families wealth lies somewhere between $5 and $7 billion. Regular readers and anyone who knows about Portuguese football in general will all be familiar with talk of Os Três Grandes, Portugal's largest clubs, namely Benfica, Porto and Sporting CP. They all have one thing in common though in that they're member owned. Through their legal structure as a SAD they can attract foreign investments but none are backed by the wealth of billionaire owners. Their income is generated by commercial income from membership fees, gate receipts and shirt sales, from individual TV rights, the income from appearing in European competitions, from player sales and the like.

If you asked the question of who was Portugal's richest club by virtue of the wealth of their investors then it surely has to be Sporting Braga who are part owned by the Qatar Sports Investment fund who also own the current European Champions PSG. At some point should Braga finish in a Champions League place then that investment would become a problem because the chances that PSG won't have also qualified for the same competition are pretty slim and remote. Something the Portuguese media seemed to overlook entirely when there was a chance that Braga might win last season's Europa League thus automatically qualifying for this season's Champions League. In the end it didn't happen so we're still left guessing what would happen but it would mean their shares either having had to have been put into a blind trust or sold before a cut off point which ironically would have been way before the outcome of the tournament would have been known. It's highly probable I think that had Braga won they wouldn't have been allowed to take their place in the Champions League although I can't say that for definite and not for the first time I'm veering off topic so we'll leave that one unanswered for another time. 

Because Evangelos Marinakis owns Rio Ave, by association of ownership wealth it makes them actually one of the richest clubs in Portugal. However it doesn't make them the wealthiest, far from it in fact. Idan Ofer which is a real person and not a line from the Simpsons cartoon where Bart prank calls Moes Tavern, is reported to be worth in the region of $30 billion. He owns 85% of Famalicão. Naseef Sawaris holds what's described as a strategic 29% of Sporting's Matchday 2 opponents Vitória SC. He's worth a reputed $9 billion. 

The exact wealth of the US Platek family isn't known but they hold an investment stake in Casa Pia, have full ownership of Spezia in Italy and Danish club SønderjsykE Fodbold. MSP Sports Capital holds an investment in Estoril but again the value of the fund isn't reported however they brought a 33% stake in McClaren F1 for £185m in 2020 and exited the deal in an undisclosed buyout that now values the racing team at around $5 billion. Whatever they were paid for their shares it's fair to suggest that they made several times their initial investment back. So Evangelos Marinakis might not be the richest owner in Portuguese football, but in terms of individual wealth he's certainly close to the top of the list. He's also not the wealthiest Greek in the world but taking into account he and his families wealth they sit third on the list behind Vicky Safra and family, net worth $27.1 billion and Maris Angelicoussos, net worth $7.5 billion. Now Safra and her family members inherited their wealth from their late father who was a banker. For virtually every other Greek billionaire on the list, and there are a few, their primary business interest is listed as shipping. So there's a business lesson for anyone wanted to get rich - buy yourself some fuck off great container ships and start hauling goods around the world. Which also provides us with the perfect segue into just some of the accusations that have dogged Evangelos Marinakis over the years. 

Statistically speaking if you're reading this there's a large chance that you've also read the summer series on the story of the Alcochete attacks in which we dedicated one of the posts to the raids carried out on the Juve Leo Casinha HQ based under one of the stands of Sporting's home the Estádio José Alvalade whilst they were playing Chaves. Quite frankly I've read and written enough about Alcochete now to not want to see it mentioned for at least a decade so the brief synopsis of the reasons for the raid is that the Portuguese authorities believe that free tickets given by Sporting to members of the Juve Leo were being used to fund an illicit drug trafficking operation. Dont worry if you've not read it you can check it out after you've finished this post. Long story short the raids did actually turn up class A drugs but by my maths it was just shy of the equivalent of four teaspoons worth of cocaine. Oh and I think there was an additional 3g weight of hashish. So all in less than 20g worth of both drugs found combined on the premises. The drugs case was eventually dismissed albeit Nuno Mendes, leader of the Juve Leo at the time remained on remand on the charges of trafficking despite no evidence of the cocaine found having been his. In March of 2018, two months before the attacks on Alcochete ironically enough, Marinakis also found himself being accused of similar charges. Alongside three of his associates they stood accused of financing and storing narcotic substances, setting up a criminal organisation and of transporting, trafficking and selling narcotic substances. These accusations followed a three year investigation into a tanker called the Noor 1 that had been intercepted in the port of Piraeus in 2014. Amongst its cargo it was found to be carrying 2.1 tonnes of heroin. I bet the lead prosecutor Cândida Vilar wished she'd been born Greek. Criminal convictions followed in 2016 and claims against Marinakis focused on bank transfers that raised suspicions of the authorities. In short the claims being that the monies paid were used to finance the vessel. 

You might also remember during the summer we mentioned Operação Cashbal (Operation Cashball) which looked into accusations that Sporting SAD had been match fixing, albeit that was in handball matches and not football. In another case of one upmanship Marinakis had already had that same set of accusations labelled at him in 2015. He was acquitted of all charges in relation to the case which spread its influence across games in seven different countries. 

Even more accusations can be found against Marinakis, someone clearly wants some mud to stick to his plain white T shirts. He and Olympiacos vice president Kostas Karapapas had criminal charges filed against them as part of a murder investigation of the death of police officer Giorgos Lyngeridis in December 2023. Charges ranged from financing a criminal organisation to inciting sports related violence. Those trials began in November of 2025. A 20 year old Olympiacos fan was convicted of manslaughter and received a life sentence for the death of the officer.

In separate investigations dozens of fans of Olympiacos have been charged with setting up a gang, extorting street vendors, possessing weapons and orchestrating assaults. Gate 7, the teams official fan club condemned the violence and attacks that took place at a women's volleyball match between Olympiacos and Panathinaikos where the police officer lost his life adding it has never invited violence. 

In December 2024 Greek Police dismantled a gang that were importing cocaine and cannabis from Spain which allegedly included members of another Greek side AEK Athens. In 2020-2021 alone they're reported to have imported 1.4 tonnes of cannabis and 30kg of cocaine. Violence and criminal activities are not solely associated with Marinakis' Olympiacos. Whether the association with Greek football sides is merely heresy or not they do put into the context the aforementioned accusations that were made against the Juve Leo and hierarchy of Sporting CP as to how small fry and ridiculous those claims actually were at the time. 

In May 2026 it was reported that Marinakis was seeking damages of between £1 and £5m in a high court libel case against the Chair of rival Greek side Aris Thessaloniki, one Eirini Karypidou. He is also suing Israeli political consultant Ari Harlow and his company. The basic premise being that Marinakis had a smear campaign aimed at his reputation which saw defamatory allegations published on social media and online. 

Maybe he's only ever seen in white T shirts because he had literally gotten all the others and never wanted to see them again and thus appear in the eyes of authorities as being whiter than white? Clearly I've no wish to be sued so I'll make it abundantly clear that no charges against Evangelos Marinakis have ever been proven and confirm my opinion that he Greek is merely a fat cunt and a very rich one at that. 

So for all his wealth the question has to be asked why he owns Rio Ave in Portugal? Because he's not pumping millions of Euros of investment into the club chasing a position in Europe or winning titles. In fact last season they finished 12th just six points above the relegation play offs place and we're probably extremely fortunate that there were a lot of worse teams in Portugal than them as they failed to pick up a single win in their last five games and between January 17th and February 22nd they lost six straight games, a run that was ended on March 1st with a 0-0 draw at home to Famalicão. One point from a possible twenty one on offer is clearly relegation form. You imagine Marinakis was more concerned with the thought of Nottingham Forest losing the millions from Premier League TV money than he was of his Portuguese minnows. He could at least afford the shortfall if Rio Ave went down to Liga 2 easily enough. 

There's a level of prestige that comes with a Premier League club being successful on the field. There's no catchet to be found if Rio Ave were to shock the Portuguese footballing landscape and win the Liga outside of Portugal itself. The Portuguese league, like every other European division has spending controls in place and the gap between the clubs in 5th to 18th is so vast that it would take staggering amounts of money to shift the balance of power away from Benfica, Porto and Sporting. Braga occassionally find themselves amongst the top 3 places when one of those sides has an off season and would be best placed to mount a challenge but even with QSI as investors they remain sensible with their ambitions. So we can quickly dismiss any notion of wanting to take Ave to the top of the Portuguese footballing mountain.

AS a side bar - In Portuguese football clubs are required to conduct four annual salary audits with regularly defined sanctions if the requirements are not met. Under Law No. 39/2023 all clubs participating in professional competitions must either constitute a sports company (sociedade desportiva) or hold a participation in one. The dual structure model distinguishes between the parent sports association which retains it's non-profit and member based nature and the sports company which carries out the clubs professional and commercial activities. The parent club is required to maintain a minimum shareholding of 5% in the companies capital and must exercise effective influence over the definition of sporting strategy. Sports companies may take one of the corporate forms recognised by Portuguese law. The most common of these is the public limited company (Sociedade Anónima Desportiva - SAD). So if you were wondering why for example Idan Ofer only holds an 85% stake rather than 100% ownership, there's your answer. It's simply not permitted.

There are no restrictions on foreign ownership of Portuguese sport companies. Foreign individuals and corporate entities may freely acquire shares or controlling interests subject to - compliance with national corporate, tax, and anti-money laundering legislation. Where an investor already controls or holds a significant interest in another sports company, either domestically or abroad, the acquisition is subject to prior assessment to prevent conflicts of interest and to comply with multi-club ownership restrictions set out in UEFA and FIFA regulations. So we know at least there are some hurdles to purchasing a Portuguese club when owners already own other clubs such as Forest and Olympicos in the case of Marinakis.

Each company must have at least a board of directors, a supervisory body and an external auditor. Audited annual financial statements are required to be submitted. I add that line in to again note that Marinakis despite having the controlling interest still has to listen to the clubs wishes. He may well fancy putting more money in, but those on the board would righfully be wary of left holding the baby if the Greek suddenly decided he no longer wanted to invest in the club and left them with massive debts and no short to long term way or financing them. We've already highlighted the financial plight of Estrela in our matchday 1 post and we're not long from seeing Boavista go to the wall, one of just five clubs to have ever won the Portuguese top flight league title. 

I would suggest the reasons for buying Olympiacos and Nottingham Forest are a lot more obvious than the purchase of Rio Ave unless overtime I missed that the Portuguese club was a sleeping giant of the domestic game. The Greek side are clearly the club he supported as a boy (well one assumes so anyway), investing into Nottingham Forest was done with the aim of reaching the Premier League and the associated payday that would bring if he achieved it. So why purchase Rio Ave in 2023? Note he had been owner of Olympiacos since 2010 and Forsest from 2017 onwards. 

Now my natural inclination as to why Marinakis would want a Portuguese club amongst his stable was because of the Brazilian player market. If you were to take a cursory look into why so many Brazilian players move to Portugal the standard response is a shared language and culture. The overlooked answer is more obvious and important, Brazilians benefit from special immigration frameworks to work in Portugal. Primarily the CPLP Mobility Agreement and the historic Equality Statute. So you can get players the requisite work permits easier, their families can move to the country easier and for Portuguese clubs themselves you can buy players at a cheaper rate, in fact in a lot of cases players come on free transfers. If you're a Brazilian club losing a player on a free transfer that doesn't seem like a good deal on paper. But consider a player's selling on clause within the contract, because the ultimate goal will be to sell the player on to the European market and turn a tidy profit. If you're a Premier League club your access to talented youngsters in Brazil is harder because of immigration laws into the United Kingdom. A Premier League club may well want to do business direct with a club in Brazil for an up and coming youngster but being able to get a visa stops them from being able to do so. So if the player instead moves to Portugal which is part of the EU using the special legal framework and their career takes off, their pathway to their next club has opened up. Even if a club has a basic sell on clause of 10%, to help make more money, the chances are they'd also be entitled to the complete 5% parity payment due on all transfers for initial player development. At some point their money comes from the future profits. 10% is probably really low by the way. We know as an example that Geny Catamo’s previous club kept 90% of his playing contract. So then you have the scope for clubs to buy percentages of a players contract somewhere down the line. There's always some angle to make the deal work financially for all parties involved. 

Somewhere in the back of my mind was the name of Botafogo connected with Marinakis which was brought back to the forefront when looking at their summer signings. Incoming - Samuel - Free transfer from … well of course Botafogo. Was there a thread to be pulled at? Stupid question, so let's pull at it. Incoming transfers to Nottingham Forest from Botafogo - Igor Jesus on a 4 year deal, Jair Cunha on a five year deal, Cuiabano on a four year deal. €12m quoted for Victor, either £10m or £11.5m for Jesus and no fee quoted for the third player. Outgoing from Forest to Botofogo - Danilo for €25m. All deals done between July and September of last year. Just two clubs conducting business nothing to see here. Until John Textor the Botafogo owner opened his mouth and suggested he'd colluded with Marinakis to fix transfer fees, something he quickly rolled back on and denied. Unsurprisingly Nottingham Forest were also quick to deny what Textor had said. Any other threads worth pulling at? Maybe the one that suggests Marinakis is in a prime position to buy Botafogo from Textor and add it to his multi club ownership model along with Rio Ave. I mean you could see how they could be potentially beneficial couldn't you based on the above? 

Now when Marinakis took over Ave the club were in debt to the tune of €13m and languishing in the relegation zone. His ambition was to apparently turn Rio Ave into a top six… or seven club. So to clarify Evangelos, not a top six club but a top six or seven club? Gotcha. Let's look at the progress to date with that shall we?

2023/24 11th - 37 points 

2024/25 11th - 38 points 

2025/26 12th - 36 points 

I mean had he said top 11… or 12 club then dear lord they'd be smashing it. 

You may well have seen the transfer of Famalicão midfielder Gustavo Sá to Nottingham Forest was finalised for a fee of €20m this summer. Did he ever even step foot in England? I'm going to suggest that no he didn't given Forest were touring in the Algarve when he signed and he was then promptly loaned to Olympiacos for the next twelve months. Not quite as bad as the Pozzo family with Udinese and Watford in years gone by but it is pretty blatant isn't it? He'll join Jota Silva who is also on loan from… yes you guessed it - Nottingham Forest. Olympiacos also benefitted from signing Rio Aves two best players in Clayton and André Luiz last season. OK so yes there's the additional benefit of parking players between clubs in your multi club ownership structure but it's OK I'm sure that Rio Ave got full market value for both players from Olympiacos. Just like Gustavo Sá is playing in Greece for a season because of the experience. Helping them qualify for Champions League football wouldn't be beneficial to the Greek team at the end of the season if they won the league would it. Oh it would? Well that's awkward. Don't I feel stupid now. 

Oh I have just found an interview with Marinakis where he talks about his purchase of Rio Ave, admits he's never been there but hopes to visit and talks at length about the importance of being a gateway to Brazilian talent. Fuck me I could have saved myself a lot of leg work there. Still at least he's confirmed what I had suspected. OK now I genuinely do feel stupid. Oh apparently also had talks previously to buy Vasco da Gama which seemingly never came to anything. In short expect Marinakis at some point to add one of the Brazilian clubs to his stable whichever one it might be. Given he brought Rio Ave without visiting I don't think he cares and neither will he care how many stands the ground has. 

So a quick run down of the deals between his clubs under the multi club ownership.

2026/27

Nottingham Forest to Olympiacos

David Carmo €9.00m, Stefan Ortega Free, Gustavo Sá Loan and Jota Silva Loan

2025/26

Nottingham Forest to Rio Ave

Jonathan Panzo Loan, Omar Richards Loan, Eric da Silva Moreira Loan

2024/25

Brandon Aguilera to Rio Ave (No fee given)David Carmo to Olympiacos Loan, Marko Stamenić to Olympiacos Loan, Omar Richards to Rio Ave Loan, Jonathan Panzo Loan

2023/24

Outgoing from Forest

Giulian Biancone to Olympiacos (No fee given), Gustavo Scarpa to Olympiacos Loan, Omar Richards to Olympiacos Loan

If you start adding deals direct between Rio Ave and Olympiacos we could be here another ten minutes - basically you get the picture. There's a lot of movement of players between his three clubs in his multi club ownership model. So short term that's the first answer as to why Marinakis brought the club and long term it appears it will be the gateway for the Brazilian market. 

10th August update 

Breaking news today that Marinakis is suing Crystal Palace for a banner unveiled by their fans last season which depicted him holding a gun to the head of Morgan Gibbs-White with a speech bubble that was basically refuting all the claims mentioned above. Well maybe not the suggestion about buying a Brazilian club. 

2025/26 season

Last season’s home record read played 17, won 3, drawn 6, lost 8. GF 17, GA 29. This was the third worst overall record in the top flight, only relegated Tondela and AVS had poorer records. Last season’s away record read played 17, won 5, drawn 6, lost 6, GF 18, GA 28. Interestingly that gave them the sixth best away record in the division which feels like a huge anomaly. 

Of the 35 goals scored 25 were from open play, 4 set pieces, 1 free kick, 3 penalties and 2 own goals. They were pretty much on the money compared to their Xg which was 36. I think it’s rather telling that 48.57% of their goals were scored by two players who left in January. Clayton at that stage had 10 and Luiz had 7. Jalen Blesa finished his campaign with 7, the next highest feels damning - Spikic on 2 goal. Seven players shared a single goal apiece. 

We already mentioned the 4-1 defeat to the lions towards the end of the season, note they lost the reverse fixture 4-0 in turn. 

2026/27 season

Summer Transfer Window 

Incoming

Samuel - Botafogo FR (Free)
Diogo Nascimento - Olympiacos (Loan)
Roland Galcío - Podbrezova (Free)
Ennio van der Gouw - Zulte Waragem (Free)
Pedro Amaral - Free Agent
Malik Sellouki - Laval (Free)

Signed after Matchday 4 

Sebastian Clemmensen - IFK Göteborg (Undisclosed)
Radek Siler - Zeleziarne Podbrezová (Free)
Simón García - Atlético Nacional £2m
Zé Carlos - Free agent

Outgoing

Marc Gual Kairat Almaty (Free)
Karem Zoabi - Torreense (Free)
Olé Pohlmanm - Greuther Fürth (Free)
João Graça - Released
Georgios Okkas - Olympiacos (Free)
Rafael Laboto - AVS (Loan)

Rio Ave pre-season results 

July 11th - Arouca 2-1 W
July 15th - Portimonsense 3-0 W
July 19th - Al Ahli 2-2 D
July 23rd - Nottingham Forest B 5-2 W
August 1st - Tondela 3-1 W

2026/27 Fixtures

Matchday 2 - FC Porto (H)
Matchday 3 - Estoril (A)

We'll bring you updates on signings and fixtures played in the forthcoming weeks before the two sides face off against each other. 

Matchday 1 - Gil Vicente (A) 1-0 L

Level at the break 0-0 the visitors evening was made harder when Ntoi was dismissed for a challenge just 1 minute into the second half going through the back of García. Substitute Héctor Hernández scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot after a cross from the right was adjudged to have been handled. The goal came four minutes from time and it's fair to say it nearly didn't come at all after van der Gouw guessed the right way and got huge contact on the shot low into the left hand corner only for the ball to squirm under his body and over the line. Some familiar faces on the home side. José Silva and David Moreira made their debuts for the home side following their summer transfers from Sporting B. Ricardo Esgaio started and according to Fotmob was the man of the match with a rating of 8.2. No that's not a typo. 

Xg 1.53 - 0.31
Total Attempts 13 - 6
Shots on target 5 - 2
Big Chances 2 - 1
Big Chances missed 1 - 1 

Matchday 2 - FC Porto (H) 0-2 L

Gabriel Viega assisted for Pérez to head home on ten minutes from four yards out direct from a corner kick on the near side. It was the first attempt on goal from either side. On 33’ Kiwior smashed home a volley from 12 yards only for his effort to be ruled out by an offside in the buildup. Monteiro had Ave’s best chance of the half on 45 when his flicked header from 8 yards was turned over by Costa for a corner. In all likelihood it would either have dropped onto the roof of the net or hit the crossbar. On 57’ Gul saw his downward header from 10 yards strike the post. Farioli made four substitutes in the space of three minutes knowing a one goal advantage still left his side vulnerable. Surrounded by three defenders just inside the 18 yard box In-Beom Hwang cleverly managed to turn and find the unmarked Sainz behind him and he curled home from 15 yards on 81. Some truly appalling defending it has to be said. 

xG 0.58 - 1.97
Total attempts 13 - 14
Shots on target 1 - 6
Big chances 0 - 4
Big chances missed 0 - 2

Matchday 3 - Estoril (A) 0-2 W

The visitors ensured Estoril keeper was on his toes with eleven minutes gone when a free kick from the far side continued its bend goalwards and he tipped it over to be on the safe side though it didn't count as an effort on goal. The free kick had proved to be a sighter because from same position Diogo Bezerra picked out the head of Jalen Blesa on 14' to glance the ball past Robles for 1-0. On 52' Blesa saw a second goal ruled out after a neat finish into the bottom right hand corner. He was adjudged to have been 10cm offside. On the hour mark Rio Ave keeper van der Gouw turned Begraoui's effort from 18 yards onto his post and out for a corner. From that resulting corner Carvalho blasts over from 16 yards. The groundstaff sure to take a mouthful given the huge bobble it took just before he struck it. Blesa turned provider with a wonderfully floated ball towards the back post met by the head of Tamble Monteiro on 71' for 2-0. Incredibly the only other effort for the visitors had come just before the hour mark from a Nikitscher header. 3 attempts - 2 goals. 

xG 1.16 - 0.70
Total attempts 18 - 3
Shots on target 6 - 3
Big chances 1 - 2
Big chances missed 1 - 0

In the markets 

Rio Ave 7/1
Draw 4/1
Sporting 3/10

Last season Bruno Costa took charge of two games involving the lions, the 4-1 away to CD Nacional in which they were reduced to ten men and the 3-0 away to Moreirense.

Team News 

Rio Ave Starting XI 

99 van der Gouw, 5 Ntoi, 23 Petrasso, 39 Mancha, 17 Vrousai, 54 Liavas, 44 Nikitscher, 7 Bezerra, 11 Blesa, 77 Spikic and 9 Monteiro 

Coach: Sotiris Sylaidopolous 

Starting XI 

Silva, Fresneda, Debast, Inácio, Araújo, Altimira, Doumbia, Zalazar, Geny, Gonçalves and Suárez

Substitutes 

Callai, Vagiannidis, Quaresma, Dias, Ba, Andersen, Lima, Guilherme, Irankunda, Derry, Ioannidis and Nel.

Virgínia left in midweek and his long term replacement won't be confirmed until tomorrow and so Callai gets the nod on the bench. Just one change to the starting XI as Inácio returns in place of Ba and in addition takes back the captain's armband from Araújo. Felicíssimo drops out of the squad for the returning Ioannidis. Ba is amongst the substitutes.

Four changes to the home side. Ntoi, Vrousai, Mancha and 
Spikic who all came on as substitutes on Matchday 3 all start in place of Abbey, Brabec, Nascimento and Galcík.

First half 

Rio Ave get us underway. Sporting in their change kit of gold and black attack left to right in the opening half.

2 The lions sat in a 4-4-2 in the opening exchanges happy for now to let Rio Ave have the ball 
4 GOAL Rio Ave 0 Sporting CP 1. First attack from the lions results in Flávio Gonçalves beating the offside trap to pass the ball past the onrushing goalkeeper from ten yards for his second senior goal into the bottom right hand corner. Doumbia claims the assist. Muted celebration from the youngster who raises his hands with an apologetic look on his face
9 Shot wide from 16 yards from Ntoi. He complained he was pushed in the back by Zalazar but the referee wasn't interested 
10 Rio Ave scrambling with an overload on the left hand side. In the end Gonçalves tried to do too much and ran into four defenders who'd finally managed to get back 
12 Beautiful first touch by Geny to lose his marker. He wins a corner nearside 
13 The lions went short. Araújo put his cross right into the hands of van der Gouw
14 Suárez with a deliberate act of aggression towards Petrasso in the centre. That's poor from the Colombian and he's fortunate not to pick up a booking. I think he clearly swings his arm at the defender 
19 Golazzo. All too easy for the lions. Rio Ave once more playing with too high a line. Geny was wide open far side on the right and whipped it into the very top right hand corner from 16 yards. Rio Ave 0 Sporting CP 2Gonçalves adds an assist to his opening goal.
21 Vrousai’s 24 yard effort deflects high up off a defender and out for a corner nearside 
21 Short corner taken, strikes the arm of Doumbia. VAR checking. His arm was tucked by his side. No penalty but a second corner 
23 Referee runs across to tell the taker Bezerra to actually put the ball in the corner space rather than having about 2mm hang over the edge of the white line 
23 After all that a headed clearance fell to Spikic whose wild strike slices so badly that it nearly ended up on the corner flag far side. I hit golf balls that bad
25 GOAL. Geny sees his effort cannon off the far post from 13 yards and it fell straight to Luis Suárez who said thank you very much and smashed it into the bottom right hand corner from ten yards. Rio Ave 0 Sporting CP 3 
27 From four efforts the lions have 3 goals and hit the post. One of my main gripes with Trincão and Pedro Gonçalves in particular was always the total number of wasted efforts just shooting for the sake of it. Sporting look like they'll score every time they attack 
29 Some of our players are genuinely walking around. They think it's done and we're not even a half hour in 
30 Nikitscher concedes a corner far side as he slides to knock out Araújo’s cut back 
31 Referee blows for a foul on Altimira despite the Rio Ave player sliding into him and ending up between his legs. The Spaniard merely tried to get off him to pick up the loose ball. Bizarre. He can't quite believe it by the look on his face 
32 Free kick far side as Inácio stood on the heels of Blessa
34 Free kick 26 yards out. Referee blows for a foul against one of the Rio Ave players inside the area. Chance goes begging for the home side. What a waste
34 Clever ball into the Sporting box centrally. Big claim by Rui Silva who was quickly out to smother the ball. Ruiiiiii comes the cry from the travelling fans who are up in the corner parallel to his goal
35 One of the misses of the season. Zalazar somehow puts it double the height of the goal from 15 yards with the keeper about ten yards behind him outside his area. It wasn't an open goal as there were defenders in the way but it should have been 4-0 nonetheless. He did the hard work flicking the ball over van der Gouw... Hold that thought...
36 GOAL Rio Ave 0 Sporting 4. Turns out that Zalazar's miss didn't matter that much after all. Suárez plays a one two with Araújo and the Colombian whips the ball into the bottom left hand corner from the edge of the area first time. 
40 Rio Ave somehow scramble the ball clear inside their box as it evaded both Suárez and Geny 

Half time 

No additional time added on 

Rio Ave 0 Sporting CP 4

The lions have been nonchalant, barely broken out of first gear and yet still find themselves 4-0 up without trying. None of the players could even be bothered to exhaust themselves with a celebration of any real effort. It's been a bizarre spectacle at times if you'd not guessed by reading that opening. Had Rio Ave not won last week, Sporting could well have lifted Casa Pia off the bottom of the table by the end of the 90, Rio Aves defender has been that bad. I've seen some bad performances from them over the years, I think this has to be the worst. Where the side that started so well in May has gone too I've no idea because they really did impress me that night and at least for that iteration they had the excuse of finishing with nine men. 

Geny’s finish in particular was worth the entrance fee alone, it was inch perfect into the top right hand corner. Petrasso moans to the referee as the players make their way off for half time. xG 0.09 to 1.09 which proves the quality of some of those finishes struck from range when compared to the scoreline of 0-4. You feel there's more goals to be had in the second half. Lord knows what might happen if the lions actually put some real effort in. 

Second Half

Cries of Bora, Bora from the captain 
Inácio in the tunnel. The DJ clearly has a sense of humour playing the Rolling Stones during the interval with Start Me up - You make a grown man cry seemed a very apt message for the home players.

The lions get us back underway. They've been guilty of taking their foot off the pedal in the second 45 all season. Perhaps they'll put their foot actually on it at some point this game having cruised through the opening 45. Not that I'm complaining four goals up. 

No changes from either side. Understandable from the lions but you wonder if the Rio Ave mister is sending a message to the board about their lack of investment?

47 Blesa pulled a shot wide of the far post but it wouldn't have counted anyways as he was offside. Inácio was however just chasing his shadow on the nearside 
49 Sporting have started the half in much the same way they did the first. Happy to concede possession and look to patiently build up and exploit the acres of space behind the defence where they can 
50 Araújo wins a corner near side 
50 Booking to Suárez for a foul on Blesa. He claims he got the ball. I don't think he even made contact with it at all but it was quite comical how he just stood still with his arm pointing out rather than making an argument, like a Colombian John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever. OK maybe his arm was pointing lower 
53 Zalazar shot blocked centrally from 16 yards 
55 Rare bit of excitement for the home fans as they tried to counter attack and ended up losing the ball on the edge of the Sporting area far side 
59 Yellow shown to Nikitscher for a foul on Gonçalves 
61 Big shout for a penalty not given to Sporting. Arm was struck by a defender and it was not tucked in by his side.
64 Doumbia fires wide from 20 yards
64 ⬅️➡️ Off Doumbia, Geny and Gonçalves. On Anderson, Guilherme and Ioannidis 
65 ➡️⬅️ Bezerra for Sellouki 
66 Tamble heads over from 12 yards
68 Ioannidis shot blocked from 7 yards. He ended up in a heap. Referee again not interested. VAR did check as referee did the universal wave of the hands to say nothing doing
71 Wry grin on the face of Araújo. He felt he should have had a free kick a minute earlier not given. He shows the referee what a foul looks like
72 Sellouki with a bizarre pass cum shot that was in the end really neither. Caught in two minds he ends up pretty much passing it out for a goal kick. Sums up their night 
73 Best chance of the night for the home side and it's stuck well wide of the right hand post from 8 yards by Spikic
74 ➡️ ⬅️ Galcík for Spikic and Wenck for Nikitscher 
77 A voice picked up on the game microphones from the crowd says in English says we're staying here forever at the end of the game. Sounds ominous. Maybe Rio Ave is purgatory?
78 Guilherme cut inside his man but from just inside the edge of the area could only put his shot into the hands of the keeper 
79 ⬅️➡️ Zalazar for Irankunda. The Uruguayan will be seeing that first half miss in his sleep for days 
80 Araújo looks to get the Australian involved seconds after coming on but his pass is cut out 
81 Referee plays the advantage as Irankunda is flattened from behind. Free kick would have been the better option given where it was 
81 Inácio runs with the ball with his hand gesturing to the side like he's Obi Wan Kenobi. This isn't the defender you're looking to tackle, he can go about his business. Move along 
83 Be almost a shame to add the time on for substitutions given the game ended as a spectacle when it went 4-0. I'm not complaining. I did that against Gil Vicente a few years back and we then could barely find the net for weeks after 
84 Guilherme taken down from behind nothing given. Seconds later, Silas with the slightest of touches and a free kick awarded 
85 ➡️⬅️ Patrício for Vrousai and Caike for Blesa
85 ➡️ ⬅️ Derry for Suárez who needs to hurry up getting off given he's already been booked 
88 Irankunda is fouled by Wenck. Clumsy challenge 27 yards out
89 Ioannidis fires the free kick straight into the wall. It fell to Irankunda on the far edge of the 18 yard box and his low drive was blocked 
90 Great low ball in from Irankunda evaded Ioannidis and it ended up with Araújo whose shot between the defenders legs was well saved in the end at the second attempt - Leg to hand and clear. The Greek could claim the dummy and letting it run between his legs but in reality he missed it

Plus two shown 

+1 Curled effort from inside the D bent around the defender but straight into the hands of van der Gouw from Derry

Full time 

Rio Ave 0 Sporting CP 4

The final word

You're going to have to check the Sporting kit for any signs of sweat because I don't think you'll find any of most of them. Inácio and Araújo the only two as the players make their way off that look like they might have a case to make for putting a shift in. I'd like to see the running stats. 

So we're 360 minutes into the new season and I can say we've looked OK for 180 of them, just none of the have come in the second half. That might be a little unfair on them tonight because they had so little to do they were almost willing their opponents on to try give them something at least to keep them occupied. It might also be closer to 200...

I think the talking point of the night is the lack of goal celebrations. Geny and Suárez maybe fed up of all the speculation over recent weeks. A reminder to anyone watching that this is a job for them. They'll turn up, be really good at what they do, go home, shut the front door and focus on their wives and kids which is how it should be. The noise from our own fans is probably worse than the stories in the media. Each provides the fuel for each other. We just need the window shut now, a good performance in the Champions League and a few people to shut their mouths on all sides. Easier said than done. 

We know we've an attack that can blow pretty much side out of the water domestically at present. I have no issue with them conserving their effort. They know what a long season it will be. How come March into April last season they blew a gasket. They're working on fixing the issues. Had we not given two goals away on Matchday one in bizarre circumstances we'd have had a maximum 12 points. If you're a Benfica or a Porto sat watching on you won't necessarily be fearful but they'll know this side can score goals and lots of them and will cause 90% of the defences in the league real problems. The more weeks go by the more the support cast will find their feet and then you might see some panic start to form. This may well turn out to be a title race with three challengers who take it to the wire and two dropped points against an Estrela could be a difference maker. That said Sporting don't look like title contenders at present but they're definitely capable of shaking things up when you score four times without getting out of first gear all night.

I'm sometimes guilty of forgetting to focus on our opponents when summing up. To be fair I do give them plenty of spotlight in the previews so hopefully it balances out. That they made no changes at half time felt like their mister was trying to send a message to Evangelos Marinakis. Problem is he'll not see the lack of any investments as the issue and he'll just roll the coach out the door. They need some help. Had they not beaten Estoril last week then they'd be sat rock bottom with Casa Pia in real trouble. They could be reliant on other teams being far worse than them. I've seen a lot of bad iterations of Rio Ave over the years. Genuinely last May they impressed me early on it that game. Finally they had something about them. Yes OK fine they lost 4-1, lost their heads and ended up with 9 men but they'd have ended the season with some sort of hope. Whatever hope they may have had ended with it all but evaporated after the first four games. Carry on like that and you'd be fortunate to continue to pick a win up every four games and finish on 24 points which you imagine would spell relegation. This will raise the hopes of newly promoted Académico and Marítimo that there will be two worst sides than them come the end of May. Problem is even if they do get some investment they know they're just a vehicle for the multi club ownership model. For every Clayton and André Luiz you find they're just going to be out the door in six to twelve months. Blesa can't be long before he's exiting. In fact the window is still open. You wouldn't put it past Marinakis to cash in. It would be a huge mistake but I don't think he cares. He tried to boost Olympiacos’ chances in the Champions League qualifiers only to see that fail spectacularly and for AEK Athens to qualify which will have smarted hugely I'm sure. His season at Nottingham Forest has started with two losses. I didn't even think to see if Diomande started either of those. How quickly we forget we fans and move on. Well some of us clearly do it better than others. At 48 it's better to have loved and lost than not at all. We'll see when we meet them again if anything has changed on Matchday 21. If you want a prediction it'll be that the Sotiris has gone. Their one not ours. Well I think they'll both be gone in fairness. 

Back to the lions we saw better performances from the substitutes again for the second week running. They might be marginal gains but life is all about the 1% you can make better in every area and over a long enough period of time they'll all add up. Derry had previously shown not much more than the fact he'd got his father's temper. Tonight a nice curled effort which beat the defender but not the keeper. He enjoyed a nice embrace with the mister after the full time whistle. Silas had a little cuddle with Paulinho and there's a bromance blossoming there for sure. He needs a longer time out on the pitch to make his mark. He really impressed me pre-season. Irankunda reminds me of Alisson last season. You're not sure what his going to bring but you're going to enjoy watching it and defenders are going to hate trying to mark him. 

Guilherme is slowly convincing me there's a half decent player in there and maybe we have to wait twelve months until Geny goes for him to fully burst onto the scene. Every minute Ioannidis spends on the pitch is a bonus after an injury blighted last season. If we can get him to full fitness we might end up with a title somewhere even if it's just a Taça da Liga or a Taça de Portugal. Fans forget this is a long term project and we're in month one of it. Give it time to grow people's and back the side and stop thinking you're the fucking coach because players are having to meet your expectations when they're playing to the mister Rui Borges. This isn't football manager, it's not a simulation. 

So glad Rui Silva got the monkey off his back of a first clean sheet. Literally he had not much more to do that come out to the edge of this area and claim twice but he did it both times with confidence and strength. Pleasing performance and he stayed fully focused throughout. What can you say about the defenders and the midfield? You've got seven players including the goalkeeper who you'd give a 7 out of 10 to. In fact the minimum score you'd give all eleven starters was a 7. You'd probably mark all of Rio Ave's starters as a 5. Maybe a 4 for van der Gouw but there's not much he can do with some of those finishes in fairness to him. So where does that leave me with my choice or four for man of the match? Because logic would decree the remaining four but after that Zalazar miss you can have him anywhere near. That was shocking. So we'll go Flávio Gonçalves number one. What a difference six months makes, a pre-season where you prove your quality against an alleged better quality of opponent and a chance to prove what you can do with a starting place. He keeps taking it. Two goals in two games. Sorry Pedro there's only one Gonçalves on everyone's lips right now and it's not you. Well maybe not true as it appears his exit has fallen through but from a footballing point of view I'm right. I couldn't work out why he didn't celebrate. Maybe he was on their books before he came to Alcochete.? If you watched him at Sporting B last year and in the youth version of the Champions League his quality is there for all to see but it's a big step up between that and men's football. Well Liga 2 is men's football but you know what I mean hopefully. Anyway I'm thrilled for the lad. Vote two goes to Geny. His wife must get a good seeing to for 45 minutes once a week and then he loses interest, job done. Boy what a job he does to. You can see why Jamestown Analytics highlighted him for Como. His turn of pace over the first five yards is frankly ridiculous and still leaves me in awe each and every time you see him do it. The fact that he doesn't have Trincão operating in the same space is such a bonus for him because he can go both ways now. Drive to the byline and look for the assist with the cut back or make his space on the inside and get his finish away with more time and precision. That goal was top quality and had the second one not hit the post he's got a wonderful brace for the highlight reel. 

Vote three goes to Luis Suárez. Another two goals to add to his ever growing tally as a lion. He'll end up with a three game ban at some point soon you can feel it coming. I'm not sure if it's an arm or an elbow a threw mid way through the first half I couldn't see it fully. If that sounds like an excuse I watch games on my phone and I couldn't find it on full screen first half and so was watching the coverage on the size of about one and a half inch by two and a half inch so genuinely I thought it was naughty and should have been punished but I'm not sure how much. They kept replaying a Gonçalves challenge in the buildup to one of the goals which looked like nothing. Not every contact is a foul. If you're not giving a foul for the pull back on Quaresma on Matchday 1 then you're not giving whatever that was. I thought the referee did miss a Sporting penalty but that's by the by. Again the handball law doesn't help match officials. You just want consistentcy because someone got a penalty last week for an outstretched arm though I forget who. Doumbia's arm was fully tucked in from the corner. Anyway I'm rambling. Suárez made the second goal. It's his run initially that starts the play, his positioning for the return ball was spot on. The finish was superb. Great team goal. Deserved his brace and took both chances clinically. That's what you want from your two main forwards. Anyone moaning about lack of opportunity for Nel is starting to look all the more silly. 

That leaves one final vote. I'm going to give it to Maxi, claims the assist for that Suárez goal, as always puts in a huge shift getting up and down the left flank, defensively sound and always dangerous when on the attack. I've been giving my man of the match based on 45 minute performances pretty much every week which seems harsh on those who finish the 90. I'm going to give it to Maxi because he consistently over the course of the 90 gave a great display. 

I watched Nacional give away far too much space last week. João Giao is going to have to swallow his principles next weekend because if he doesn't they're going to get a hiding from this side. Watch this space. 

xG 0.47 - 1.66
Total attempts 6 - 14
Shots on target 0 - 7
Big chances 0 - 3
Big chances missed 0 - 1

30th August update - the handball from the Rio Ave player not resulting in a penalty was owing to the fact the contact previous to him handling it came off his own player. 

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