As you may have gathered I am a big supporter of the Portuguese Liga and each week I'll be looking at the a highlight match. With the start of the campaign, none would be better than the start of FC Porto's defense of their title.
Porto's quest for their sixth Portuguese Liga title in the decade and fourth in a row started today with a solid 2-0 victory over Belenenses at Estádio do Dragão. It has been a trying pre-season for the champions as they they are facing the reality that the talismanic Ricardo Quaresma wishes to play elsewhere and they have looked less than impressive in the attack without him. In the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira the offensive flourish that is characteristic of the squad was absent and to complete today's match most of their upper-tier players were on international duty this Wednesday and manager Jesualdo Ferreira was dealing with some interesting decisions.
In speaking to the media pre-match, Jesualdo Ferreira had commented that he had learned from the Supertaça defeat and corrected the problems. Proving true to his word Porto came out looking likely a completely different squad in comparison to the Supertaça and displayed creative yet confident flourish.
The match was an overwhelming one-sided affair from the get-go and quickly Mariano González gave the champions the lead at the fifteenth minute. Finishing still needs some work but the quality of movement and tactical precision was superb. New addition Cristian Săpunaru did a tremendous job and in the back-line and served notice that Porto is planning towards its Champions League bid. Fellow new-man Hulk was brought-in for Cristian Rodríguez with thirty-one minutes left in the match and was rewarded with his first goal with a brilliant left-footed strike from roughly twenty meters out to the far corner to bring the match to its final 2-0 score.
A brilliant start to the new season with the action picking up next week as they face Benfica.
