FC Porto

Diogo Costa and Mehdi Taremi: The 2 great figures of FC Porto's remarkable recovery in the Champions League!

❌ Atlético Madrid 2-1 FC Porto⠀
❌ FC Porto 0-4 Club Brugge ⠀
✅ FC Porto 2-0 Bayer Leverkusen ⠀
✅ Bayer Leverkusen 0-3 FC Porto⠀
✅ Club Brugge 0-4 FC Porto⠀
✅ FC Porto 2-1 Atlético Madrid ⠀

Who would have thought that, after the defeats in the first 2 rounds, FC Porto would qualify in 1st place in their group…in the following 4 games, Sérgio Conceição's team scored 11 goals and conceded only 1! An impressive record!⠀
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This remarkable recovery was only possible thanks to the near-perfect displays of Diogo Costa and Mehdi Taremi! ⠀
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Everything has been said about Diogo Costa…he is very strong between the posts, he gives his teammates a brutal security, and he has a phenomenal footwork! ⠀
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In these 4 games, he saved penalties, made assists and was essential in several moments to keep FC Porto in the lead!
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In this Champions League group stage, Diogo Costa introduced himself to the world… at 23 years old, he is already one of the best and most complete goalkeepers today! ⠀
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Regarding Taremi, we are talking about a differentiated player. Extremely complete.⠀
He is an excellent finisher, plays between the lines, presses, has an incredible vision of the game, an above average passing quality, knows how to attack depth and is very technically evolved!
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In 5 games in this Champions League, Taremi scored 5 goals and made 2 assists.⠀
This 1st place in the group owes a lot to the Iranian!
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It's a pity that Taremi gets his image connoted as a “scuba diver” or “pools”…⠀
I know it's not always easy, but if we all put clubbing aside, we easily recognize that Taremi is worth a lot, but much more than that!

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Let the eighths come!

Sporting CP

What a disappointment. ⠀
From, at half-time, being winning and in first place in the group, to, at the end of the game, losing and ending up not being qualified…⠀
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The Europa League turns out to be a “consolation prize” for a team that showed quality, but failed in games and at crucial moments.⠀

✅ E. Frankfurt 0-3 Sporting ⠀
✅ Sporting 2-0 Tottenham⠀
❌Marselha 4-1 Sporting ⠀
❌Sporting 0-2 Marselha ⠀
🟠Tottenham 1-1 Sporting ⠀
❌ Sporting 1-2 E. Frankfurt⠀

Worse than today's defeat, were the 2 defeats in the double round against Marseille. ⠀
Marseille scored 6 points in this group. All against Sporting...
Scoring 0 points against what was clearly the worst team in this group was crucial to this unfortunate outcome for the Lions.
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As for today's game, Sporting once again suffered the consequences of having a very short squad.
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The Lions had a good first half. Pote and Ugarte were at a very high level.
The Germans created a dead ball danger, but Sporting dominated and ended up going into the break with a goal from Arthur Gomes.
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In the 2nd half, Eintracht started well and Sporting gave in.⠀
At around 60 minutes, the Germans equalized from a penalty and, as has been usual in this type of situation, Sporting trembled.
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To make the situation worse, Ugarte, already in obvious physical difficulties, had to be replaced by Essugo.
The Uruguayan was playing a fantastic game and the team felt the exit.
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The 2nd goal of the Germans comes from a bad approach by Gonçalo Inácio, who was even playing a good game, and, from there, Sporting did not have the ability to react.
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The options that "jumped" from the bank (Trincão and Jovane) did not add anything to the game.
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This inability of Sporting combined with a biased arbitration ended up dictating this defeat.
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A huge opportunity to make history for Portuguese Football was lost.
We were so close to, for the first time, having 3 Portuguese clubs in the round of 16 of the Champions League…⠀
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In terms of UEFA Ranking, Sporting being relegated to the Europa League can be positive for Portuguese Football.⠀
Rúben Amorim's team has the quality to reach advanced stages of this competition.

SL Benfica

In this group stage, Benfica presented its candidacy for the 'dark horse' of this edition of the Champions League!

✅ Benfica 2-0 Maccabi Haifa⠀
✅ Juventus 1-2 Benfica ⠀
🟠 Benfica 1-1 PSG⠀
🟠 PSG 1-1 Benfica ⠀
✅ Benfica 4-3 Juventus ⠀
✅ Maccabi Haifa 1-6 Benfica⠀

Benfica has everything to be the big surprise of this Champions League! ⠀
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It plays offensive and beautiful football for the spectacular, has several players that are standing out and arousing the interest of European “sharks” (Enzo Fernández and António Silva are the 2 main names) and finished in 1st place in their group , which should “help” in the draw for the round of 16! ⠀
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After Borrusia Dortmund in 2012/2013, Monaco in 2016/2017, Roma in 2017/2018, Ajax in 2018/2019 and Villarreal in 2021/2022, who knows if Benfica in 2022/2023 will not join the list of “sensation teams” of the Champions League…⠀
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Finishing 1st in a group with Messi, Neymar, and Mbappé's PSG is a huge achievement!
Bring on the eighth! ⠀