A Speedy González who is really the only one to touch the gearbox (the chronicle of FC Porto-Estrela da Amadora) – Observer

FC Porto's season has been a real merry-go-round. Ups and downs, defeats and victories, triumphs and eliminations — without any of the options lasting too long or allowing for great habituation. The Dragons drew with Famalicão last week, won in the Europa League in the middle of the week and this Monday they could take advantage of Benfica's slip-up. As always, a carousel.

Against Estrela da Amadora, at Dragão, FC Porto knew that a victory was enough to overcome Benfica and return to second place, even if conditional, as the red-and-blacks will still play a delayed game in the coming days. The reception for the Reboleira team came shortly after the triumph against Midtjylland, in the Europa League, and Vítor Bruno made no secret of the fact that the dragons' results have been many times better than their performances.

“We always have pressure, in the entire Championship, even more so being in the Europa League. There is always pressure. It is what it is, we can't control it. What we control are our ideas, our concepts, and even then something strange can appear. If there is more or less pressure… We have to look inside. We haven't lost at home yet and the Championships are won at home and away. Fortress or not, of course having 50 thousand people pushing you is better. They help solve problems that appear during the game”, explained the coach at the press conference, even though Dragão has seen a significant drop in assists in recent weeks.

Now, in this context and still without the injured João Mário, Vítor Bruno kept exactly the same starting eleven that faced Midtjylland: with Galeno as left back, Danny Namaso starting in attack and Alan Varela on the bench, as Fábio Vieira and Stephen Eustáquio accompanied Nico González in midfield. On the other hand, in an Estrela da Amadora team that had two victories in the last three rounds, José Faria was without Ferro, due to physical problems, and sent Rodrigo Pinho and Kikas into the most advanced sector.

The first moments of the game made it possible to immediately understand that FC Porto would be taking the initiative, with Estrela da Amadora presenting itself with a very low block that intended to cancel passing lines and essentially bet on the quick transition to get close to the goal. by Diego Costa. Galen was the protagonist in the first danger, with a header over the top after a corner (5′), and the truth is that we didn't have to wait much longer for the first goal.

Corner taken on the right, no one touched the ball before it fell to the ground and Nico, practically alone and at the far post, he deflected in a clumsy way to beat Bruno Brígido and open the scoring (12′). The game became even grayer after the goal, with neither team having the inspiration or insight to create opportunities, and for a long time the most dangerous move was the moment in which Diogo Costa had to jump to catch a cross from Igor. Jesus (17′).

FC Porto never lost control of the game, but maintained it in an absolutely inconsequential way. The dragons attacked essentially from the left, where Danilo Veiga had many difficulties, but Estrela da Amadora had the merit of canceling out Samu’s impact — even if this reinforced marking opened up spaces for Fábio Vieira, Galeno or Pepê, who also shot over the goal twice (29′ and 34′).

The first half ended with a period of greater dominance by Estrela da Amadora, who spent a few minutes inside the opposite half thanks to several indirect free kicks, but FC Porto's defense never had any trouble. Dramé shone in preventing Samu from increasing the lead, with a perfect cut to the face of Bruno Brígido (40′), and the dragons went into the break beating the tricolors by the smallest margin.

None of the coaches made changes at half-time and the game returned to the second half as it had for the first, with FC Porto in control and Estrela da Amadora simply following the dragons' fragile attacks. In common, however, there remained a lack of criteria or ideas, with Vítor Bruno's team producing a very poor performance against a Dragon that was becoming impatient.

The tricolores had the best opportunity after the hour of play, with a kick from Léo Cordeiro that went over following an incursion by Kikas on the left (60′), and the idea remained that José Faria's team was taking a little more risk in the face of FC Porto's passivity. The Estrela coach moved at this moment, launching Jovane Cabral, André Luiz and Leonel Bucca at once, and Fábio Vieira came close to scoring with a strong shot that Bruno Brígido saved (66′).

Vítor Bruno made the first substitutions with just over 20 minutes remaining, replacing Pepê and Danny Namaso with Iván Jaime and Francisco Moura, and Galeno took the field. At that time, however, the ambitions that Estrela da Amadora could still have were amputated: Danilo Veiga received a second yellow card and was sent off, leaving the Tricolors outnumbered at the end of the match.

Rodrigo Mora, Alan Varela and Gonçalo Borges still entered, Bruno Brígido avoided Nehuén Pérez's goal with another huge save (78′) and the same Gonçalo Borges put an end to doubts in stoppage time with a good cross shot (90+3′ ), debuting to score for the main team. At the end, FC Porto beat Estrela da Amadora at Dragão and provisionally rose to second place, now having one point more than Benfica, who have one game in hand. The result of Vítor Bruno's team was once again much better than the performance — and Nico González was once again the most inspired of the uninspired.