Match details:
Tondela vs. Belenenses
11th May at 8:30 PM
Venue: Estadio Joao Cardoso, Tondela.
Preview:
The Primeira Liga is the topmost tier of the professional football league system in Portugal, where 18 teams across the country battle against each other in a season to be crowned as the champion club of Portugal. It is game week 32, and in this league fixture, the 11th placed team on the table Tondela take on the 8th placed team Belenenses. In their previous respective competitive fixtures, Tondela drew 1-1 away at Boavista, while Belenenses won 1-0 at Portimonense in the Primeira Liga. Tondela drew 1-1 away to lowly side Boavista, a game where they should have taken all three points. This was a blow as many mid-table sides slipped during the last weekend, and they missed taking any advantage. Nevertheless, they are only one point behind the visitors, and a win will take them in the top half of the table. Belenenses are playing excellent football currently, and have won three of their last five league games. At one time, they were battling for survival, but have now picked 11 points from their last six games and got themselves to eighth on the table. One of the prime reasons for this resurgence has been their excellent defensive record, they have conceded the joint third least number of goals (28). They should now look at combining all these good elements in their remaining matches and attempting to finish even higher on the table.
Key Stats & Info:
Probable starting XI:
Tondela:
Trigueira (GK); Bebeto, Alves, Tavares, Ferreira; Pedro, Grau; Olabe, Barbosa, Augusto; Gonzalez
Belenenses:
Kritsyuk (GK); Silva, Phete, Ribeiro; Esgaio, Sithole, Sousa, Lima; Cardoso, Cassierra, Varela
Key players:
Gonzalez (Tondela): Spanish forward Mario Gonzalez joined Tondela on loan from Spanish side Villareal at the start of the current season, and has since made 25 appearances for the club across all competitions, scoring 14 goals and providing 3 assists. He was on loan at French second division side Clermont for the 19-20 season, and scored 4 goals in 21 games across all competitions for them. He had a good outing in his last match against Boavista, where he scored 1 goal in the overall 1-1 draw. In this game, he had 28 touches of the ball, 2 accurate shots on goal, and had a passing accuracy of 82% giving 14 accurate passes. He is the club’s top scorer this season, and is expected to make a difference in the next match.
Cassierra (Belenenses): Colombian forward Mateo Cassierra joined Belenenses in 2019 from Dutch club Ajax, and has since made 64 appearances for the club across all competitions, scoring 13 goals and giving 1 assist. He scored 5 goals in 35 games across all competitions in the 19-20 season, and has 9 goals and 1 assist to his name in the current season. He had a good outing in his last game against Portimonense, where he scored the winning goal in the 1-0 win for his side. In this game, he played for 87 minutes and had 1 shot on target from 2 attempts on goal, 41 touches of the ball, gave 3 key passes, and completed 21 passes with an accuracy of 84%. He is the club’s current top scorer, and is expected to influence the next game.
Cardoso (Belenenses): Portuguese winger Miguel Cardoso joined Belenenses on loan from Russian side Dynamo Moscow at the start of the current season, and has since made 31 appearances for the club across all competitions, scoring 8 goals and giving 2 assists. In the 19-20 season, he scored just the 1 goal in 6 games across all competitions for Dynamo Moscow, and also played 1 game for Russian side Tambov on loan without scoring or assisting. In his last game against Portimonense, he played for 70 minutes and had 1 shot on target from 2 attempts on goal, 30 touches of the ball, and a passing accuracy of 73% completing 8 passes. He is in good form and is expected to make a difference in the next game.
Captain & vice-captain picks:
Disclaimer: The views expressed here are of the author and is not a reflection of the actual points you might earn.