Santa Clara

Santa Clara is back to top flight division after dominating in Second Division, last year. Açorianos finished first and collecting just 3 defeats all along the season. On top of the great performance in league, Santa Clara had a good performance in Portuguese Cup as well, having reached the quarter-finals. Manager Vasco Matos will remain at the helm of Açorianos, which are great news for the supporters who clearly appreciate the work of the 43-years old gaffer. Santa Clara still has a few players that were relegated in 2022-23 edition of Primeira Liga. For instances, in goal, Gabriel Baptista is still the strong hand man, while the iconig Marco Pereira finally left after 8 years at Açores. The back was the strong point of Aves, last season, with full-backs Lucas Soares and Paulo Henrique, and centre-half Pedro Pacheco having very solid performances. Venâncio is back at Portuguese football and will be a candidate to complete the back-4 with those three. Matheus Pereira is also an interesting addition for the left side. In midfield, no. 10 Ricardinho is the lighthouse man for creativity, while Adriano is the one providing consistency. In attack, Rodrigo Varanda is an exciting new signing. Varanda was once considered a wonder kid at Corinthians, but his carreer at professional level as been falling short of expectations, for now. Goals are guaranteed even if Varanda fails to delive, since Bruno Almeida is staying after a 15-goals season, last year.