Today marked the return of football, at least football within the top 5 European leagues. It’s return brought with it no supporters, no noise and a strange vibe but ultimately, football is back.
There are currently 3 active Portuguese talents within the German top flight, Eintracht Frankfurt duo Gonçalo Paciência and André Silva as well as Borussia Dortmund’s Raphaël Guerriero.
Frankfurt hitman Paciência announced that he wouldn’t be taking part in the clash with Borussia Mönchengladbach due to a “small” injury and that he is working hard to return for next week’s fixtures.
Borussia Dortmund kicked off Saturday’s fixtures with the Revierderby, a clash against bitter rivals Schalke 04. Raphaël Guerriero was named in the starting line-up, operating as a left wing-back in a 3-4-3 formation.
With Dortmund already 1-0 up on the stroke of half time, Guerreiro popped up with his 6th goal of the season. Dortmund were 2-0 up and cruising.
Guerriero put in a great shift, doing his bit at both ends of the pitch. He won 7 of his 12 ground duels, made 2 interceptions and made a very impressive 5 tackles throughout the afternoon.
His, and perhaps the game’s highlight came in the 63rd minute. With Dortmund 3-0 up and heading for all 3 points, Rapha came steaming down the left-hand side, with the ball at his feet he darted diagonally towards goal, he released the ball to the wonderful Erling Håland who timed his return pass to perfection, hesitating for a split second, waiting for the Schalke defender to advance, before playing in an onside Guerreiro. What Guerriero did next was something Seleção team-mate Ricardo Quaresma would be proud of. The left-footed Guerreiro took a touch and instead of gambling on his right, he finished with a sumptuous left-footed trivela which left the Schalke keeper with no chance.
See the goal below
So, 2 goals for Raphaël which takes his Bundesliga tally to 7 and 3 points for Dortmund which sees them just a point off league leaders Bayern (who play tomorrow) all in all, it was a successful day for our Portuguese representative in Dortmund who will be hoping to end the season as strong as possible.
André Silva was named on the substitutes bench for Frankfurt against Borussia Monchengladbach.
He was brought on fo Djibril Sow at half-time with Frankfurt already 2-0 down. After just over 15 minutes of being on the pitch, his side conceded again. 3-0 down and the game already wrapped up for the visitors.
Silva was coming deep to get on the ball and was attempting to make things happen for his side, he took 20 touches and played 3 key passes in that time. Then, on the 81st minute, a Frankfurt breakthrough, an André Silva breakthrough. After a slipped ball into his feet on the edge of the box courtesy of Sebastian Rode, Silva let the ball run across his body before taking a touch and powering home with his right foot.
See goal below
A defeat on the resumption of football for André and Frankfurt. However, André can take confidence in getting his first goal post-break and hopefully gain a spot in the starting 11 for next week. This, coupled with the possible return of Gonçalo Paciência, gives all Portuguese football fans a reason to keep a keen eye on the red and black of Eintracht Frankfurt.
