Rui Costa

With so much drama both on and off the pitch in the last seven days here in Portugal, it’s no wonder why we’re returning this week with our biggest ever podcast.

In part 1 we analyse last week’s Taça de Portugal semi-finals. Setúbal choke in a packed Bonfim to a ruthless FC Porto, who book their ticket to Jamor with a simpe 3-0 win. The other semi-final was without a doubt the game of the year and probably the game of the decade here in Portugal. Sporting, 2-0 down to Benfica at home, come back to beat their local rivals 5-3. We have a first hand account of the game, the Olés of the Benfiquistas before half-time, Rui Costa’s four letter tirade to Chalana after Di Maria was substituted for Sepsi, Derlei’s touchline hysterics and the never ending limits to Maxi Pereira’s awfulness. We also talk briefly about Karen Jardel.

In Part 2 we look at the various league results of the past seven days. A run of 3 straight defeats means it’s curtains for Manuel Machado at Sporting Braga, who lost 4-1 away to Marítimo last Saturday. The battle for The Champions League spots gets more perverse as the season draws to its end. Guimarães draw away to Académica 0-0, Benfica unsuprisingly lose 2-0 at Porto and the big surprise of the weekend was bottom of the league Leiria’s 4-1 annihilation of Sporting. Benfica make the news for events off the pitch as their President Luís Filipe Vieira starts to fall rapidly out of favour with the Benfiquistas. In the battle at the bottom Leixões draw 0-0 with Amadora and Paços draw 2-2 with Naval. Serious affairs off the pitch at Boavista where a player’s strike is called off at the last minute as the board of directors struggle to find the money to pay the player’s salaries. Not only that, but the Boavista directors get well and truly duped by a so called multi-millionaire, Sergio Silva, who convinces them he can save the club but ends up being interviewed by police for fraud. Finally, we report on the official footballportugal Podcast day out in Belém as we watch Belenenses destroy Setúbal 5-0. Not only was the game amazing but the gossiping Belenenses supporters share all their knowledge with us about the possible future destination of their manager Jorge Jesus.

Finally, in part 3 we give a round up of the possible ups and downs in the Liga Vitalis/Liga da Honra/Second Division.

Keep the comments coming – either leave them here on the site or e-mail us at: info@footballportugalpodcast.com

Thanks for listening.

****************************
This podcast has now been removed

****************************