Sadly, the Final of the Carlsberg Cup itself was a big let-down both on and off the pitch, with running battles between Porto supporters and police before the match, disturbances inside the ground, and Bruno Alves deciding a career in professional wrestling might have more legs in it than football currently does. We talk about all this and more in the first part of the podcast.

In part 2 we focus on a mixed couple of weeks of European action. A terrible performance from Porto saw them crash out of the Champions League at Arsenal. Sporting put up a good fight against Atlético Madrid, but indiscipline in the first game was perhaps the main cause of their losing on away goals over two legs. Benfica, on the other hand, never cease to amaze lately, and their fantastic last minute victory over Marseille in the Europa League has brought the international glory days back to the Luz once again.

Thanks for all the comments over the last couple of weeks, and please keep them coming. We’ll be back next week, reporting on the all-important Liga game between Benfica and Braga this weekend at the Luz.

Thanks for listening,

Steve & Phil

In part 2 we’ll discuss Benfica’s talismanic match-winner Pedro Mantorras, who scored Benfica’s winning goal in their 1-0 victory over Rio Ave, played in atrocious conditions at Estadio da Luz. Finally we’ll discuss some of the latest transfers to take place before the closing of the transfer window.

Please keep the comments coming; it’s great to hear alternative points of view.

Thanks for listening!

Steve and Phil

As well as the Carlsberg Cup, we’ll also talk about Benfica president Luís Filipe Vieira’s 24 years as a fee-paying FC Porto sócio, Sporting president Filipe Soares Franco’s forthcoming exit from the role, and the young and impressive Benfica defender Miguel Vitor’s revised monthly pay-cheque.

Do keep the comments coming; it’s always interesting to get your feedback.

Thanks for listening!

Steve and Phil

In part 2 we bring you our various bests and worsts of 2008: Who’s been the best buy? The biggest disappointment? The most impressive team? The most awful haircut? Listen to the podcast and find out.

We hope all our listeners have a great festive season, Boas Festas and a Bom Ano for everyone!

Steve and Phil

In Part 1 we once again pick through the bones of yet another sorry display by the Portuguese national team.

In Part 2 we review probably… the most awful game of the year, the first Portuguese League Cup final between Vítoria de Setúbal and Sporting Clube de Portugal.A 0-0 bore draw settled on penalties without extra time thankfully won by the underdog, Setúbal. There’s a review of the game and a discussion on the bonuses the Setúbal players received.

Finally, in part 3 we look forward to this weekend’s fixtures. If Guimarães and Benfica lose and Porto win, they will be Champions for the third time, which leads us to our word of the week “tri-campeão” .

We hope you enjoy the show, next weeks podcast will be recorded on Tuesday. Please get in touch with us, either leave a message here on the site or contact us by e-mail on info@footballportugalpodcast.com

Thank you for listening.

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Part 1 concentrates on all the weekend’s action and the stories surrounding it. Guimarães are the Goldilocks to Benfica’s three bears, as Manuel Cajuda’s side sleep temporarily in Benfica’s second place bed after beating Leiria 0-1 thanks to a Ghilas goal. Academica and Belenenses play a 0-0 bore draw but we talk about the various Belenenses players arranging flights to pastures new in the next season. Leixões are unlucky to be beaten at home 1-2 by Porto in a bad tempered game and Boavista go from strength to strength with a 2-1 victory over Estrela de Amadora, assisted in no small part by the referee. We also give the latest news on the problems with the payments of the Amadora players, who may go on strike this week if their payments are delayed once again. The suprise of the week was Paços de Ferreira’s 2-1 victory over Setúbal, watched by Porto President Pinto da Costa, taking an interest in his on-loan playmaker Cláudio Pitbull. Braga’s revival continues, the beat Naval 3-0 and Benfica’s poor form carries on, with a lackluster 1-1 draw at Marítimo. We also give our inside tip on Sebastião Lazaroni possibly being one of the leaders in the race for the Benfica hot seat.

Part 2 picks through the bones of Benfica’s UEFA cup failure and most importantly Makakula’s unbelievable 4th minute open goal miss. Sporting were in far better form, going through to the quarter finals to face Rangers with a 1-0 win against Bolton courtesy of an impressive display by Bruno Pereirinha. There is an interesting historical fact about a previous Sporting European fixture against Rangers and with Sporting doing well in all cup competitions at the moment (they play in the final of the Carlsberg Cup this weekend agains Setúbal), we look into the idea of whether Paulo Bento is the new Rafa Benitiez?

Finally, in part 3 focusses on the various sports newspapers and magazines available in Portugal and their affiliations with the various Portuguese clubs.

Because there are no fixtures this weekend other than the Carlsberg Cup final, we are going to postpone the next podcast until next Wednesday 27th March, which is the day after Portugal’s game to Greece in Germany. With nothing at stake, not even pride, surely Scolari can finally direct the selecção to victory over the old enemy, or maybe not…

Thanks for all the comments and e-mails, keep them coming, either here on the site or directly to our e-mail address info@footballportugalpodcast.com .

Thank you for listening.

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Part 1 reviews the weekend’s results, amongst which were Benfica’s disappointing 0-0 home draw to Leixões, Porto’s 4-0 destruction of Braga and the continuing saga of the Sporting crisis with their 1-1 away draw to Académica. In amongst this we’ll explain what a “trivela” is and the connection between grilled chickens and dodgy keepers.

Part 2 finds us trying to explain why Porto have been so dominant in Portugal over the past two decades, the iron fisted rule of Pinto da Costa and their “Claque” (Ultras group) the “Super Dragões”, allegations of corruption in the Golden Whistle scandal and their prospects in this year’s Champion’s League competition.

Finally, in Part 3, we review last week’s Carlsberg Cup results, preview next weekend’s Taça de Portugal games and try to address whether Brazilians naturalised as Portuguese players are a good thing for the Portuguese national team.

Lastly we’d like to apologise for any sound problems that may have occurred during the podcast (bumping of microphones, popping, hissing and the rumble of passing No. 28 trams), we hope they don’t distract you from the show.

As always, if you wish to contact us you can do so by e-mail which is: info@footballportugalpodcast.com

Thank you for listening.

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