Football Season Guide

"Os verdes e brancos” had the most memorable season in their history last time out. On one hand, they had the amazing achievement of winning an official Portuguese competition: Taça da Liga. On the other hand, they fought a big fight to avoid relegation, only to dramatically save themselves in the very last round of the season. The win in the Taça da Liga was a very deserved one as they knocked out both Porto and Benfica whilst also beating Braga in the final. Despite having this achievement for the club, Augusto Inácio was eventually sacked due to very bad results in league and Petit was brought in to do what he does best - save desperate teams. However, for the current season, the board brought in Manuel Machado who is desperately wanting to shake down the bad image he gave himself by being involved in two relegations in just one season. Manuel Machado should be happy about the number of signings the club has made so far. From the whole bunch of players coming from abroad, two in particular should be mentioned. Brazilian midfielders, Gabriel Dias and Bruno Ramires, are players with good reputations in Brazilian football already. Especially the latter who, just a couple of seasons ago, was a first team member of a good Série A team like Cruzeiro. Meanwhile, Gabriel Dias was always thought to be a good prospect in the excellent “school” of talents that is Palmeiras. Should they adapt quickly to Portuguese football and life, the duo should be enough to erase the biggest blow from this transfer window which was the departure of Fernando Alexandre who didn’t renew his loan from Académica. In the attack, the departure of Roberto is thought to be covered by the arrivals of both Jhonder Cadiz from Nacional and Venezuelan, Ronaldo Peña.