The first turn of Liga NOS ended terribly for FC Porto. The national champions are returning home with two points lost and a missing player. At the end of a match that had more fighting than football, as the 0-0 result shows and as was expected given the poor condition of the pitch, Nanu - one of the men of the match - was ran over in the area, in a play where no foul was given. For our athlete and for the sick Portuguese football, we wish both a fast recovery.

Sérgio Conceição made a warning at the press conference aimed at previewing the match and confirmed it. The coach warned to the need to change the team and the Dragons did go in with four changes in the starting team: Nanu, Fábio Vieira, Felipe Anderson and Evanilson. On the other end, Belenenses SAD sent in a team aimed at defending, with five defenders. There wasn’t much to tell in the first fifteen minutes, with the only noteworthy moment being a tackle on Taremi in the area, ignored by both the referee Fábio Veríssimo and the VAR Rui Oliveira. Twenty minutes in, Matheus Uribe started the shootout, but his shot ended in the hands of Kritciuk. Two minutes later, and after the blue and white defence lost focus for a moment, Afonso Sousa shot from distance at an open goal. The attempt of the former blue and white player went well over the bar and didn’t scare. Before the half an hour mark, Sérgio Oliveira shot with power, the home goalkeeper couldn’t grab it, but Mehdi Taremi was also unable to head it in. Shortly after, a perfect corner-kick from Fábio Vieira found Evanilson, but the header didn’t go for goal. Five minutes later, the number 30 of the Dragons was the star of another dangerous situation: Yaya cleared a ball that hit Taremi, Evanilson got to the rebound first, lobbed the ball and made it count. However, an offside of 8 centimetres on Evanilson led to the goal being disallowed. Still before the break, in stoppage time, Nanu cut inside from the right wing, passed to Felipe Anderson and the number 28 volleyed the shot. The goalkeeper was able to stop that shot and the next one, from Mehdi Taremi, picking up the spare.

For the second-half, Sérgio Conceição waited 12 minutes before doing some changes and sent in Luis Díaz to replace Felipe Anderson. Right after the Colombian winger went in, Yaya, who had already been shown a yellow card, stopped a counter-attack, but no card was shown. At that time, the trend of the first-half continued, with FC Porto pushing Belenenses SAD back. 67 minutes in, Yaya did another foul, again without any card being shown, and Petit, the opposing coach, immediately replaced him. After Díaz, Marega and Tecatito Corona were also sent in to the match. Shortly after, the Mexican winger worked well on the left wing, crossed to the area, and Taremi headed the ball straight for goal, but Kritciuk stopped it with a great save. And, just in case he was still feeling cold, Diogo Calila decided to offer some warmth to Corona, by viciously tackling him, but dodged the second, well-deserved, yellow card. Right after that, the scene was repeated, and the home coach replaced yet another player that should have been sent-off. With five minutes to go, Zaidu replaced Manafá and then came the event that completely ruined the night for the Dragons: the Russian goalkeeper violently hit Nanu, and the Guinea-born Portuguese player was left unconscious on the pitch, inside the area. With everyone on the pitch justifiably concerned, the 26 years old fullback was carried to the hospital by ambulance. With that done, Fábio Veríssimo simply signalled a corner-kick and showed Marega a yellow card. What else can we say?