Portuguese Abroad goals round-up: Pizzi, Chiquinho make goalscoring debuts in Turkey; William Carvalho scores again; Tiago Tomás’ Bundesliga brace; Xeka the matchwinner for Lille; Guedes, Guerreiro on the mark
Portuguese players were responsible for over twenty goals across Europe this weekend, with several recent exports making an early impact at their new clubs. In Turkey, on-loan Benfica duo Pizzi and Chiquinho scored having arrived in the country last week, while former Sporting forward Tiago Tomás bagged a brace on his first start for Stuttgart in the Bundesliga.
Elsewhere, there was another goal for in-form Portugal midfielder William Carvalho in Spain, and Xeka scored a winner for Lille in France’s Ligue 1. Raphael Leão, Ricardo Pereira, Raphaël Guerreiro, Gonçalo Guedes, Lucas João and Dany Mota were among the other scorers on a fine few days for Luso representatives.
Pizzi’s move from Benfica to Istanbul Basaksehir surprised some, particularly given the struggles at the Turkish club over the last year. The midfielder left Lisbon earlier this month on a loan deal until the end of the season, having struggled to recapture his best form over the last 18 months with Benfica. Pizzi went straight into coach Emre Belözoğlu’s starting line-up against Gaziantep and set Basaksehir on their way to a 2-0 victory with the opener on 34 minutes.
Pizzi had the dream start in Turkey pic.twitter.com/T0n8HdcZ0j
— Sean Gillen (@SeanGillen9) February 14, 2022
Related article: “It was good to have this feeling again” – Ricardo Pereira reflects on long-awaited goal [video]
There was another debut goal on the latest round of action in the Super Lig and it was another Benfica loanee making an even earlier impression on his first outing. Chiquinho, who joined Giresunspor on a similar loan deal, scored after just two minutes against giants Fenerbahce, although his side relinquished the lead and later succumbed to a 2-1 defeat at home.
Benfica loaned Chiquinho to Turkish side Giresunspor last week. Just 2 minutes into his debut against Fenerbahce he did this: pic.twitter.com/jfJ1PQo3wU
— Sean Gillen (@SeanGillen9) February 14, 2022
Spain: William scores again, Guedes on the spot
Real Beti midfielder William Carvalho is proving one of the standout performers in the Portuguese Abroad section and the ex-Sporting man added to his string of fine performances with his first La Liga goal of the season on Sunday. Carvalho, who has scored twice in the Copa del Rey in 2022, got the third goal with a cool finish as Betis won 4-2 at Levante and remain in 3rd place.
Also in Spain, Gonçalo Guedes is enjoying arguably the best season of his career with Valencia, having broken his personal record for most league goals in a campaign. Guedes got his 9th Liga goal from the penalty spot in Los Ches’ 2-1 defeat at Alaves; previously the highest return for the winger was a tally of eight goals for Benfica B back in 2014-15.
Related article: Brilliant Rafael Leão sends Milan top in Italy [video]
Germany: Tiago Tomás shines as Guerreiro scores in Dortmund win
Tiago Tomás certainly caught the eye on his first full appearance with Stuttgart since making a loan move from Sporting. The 19-year-old played the final ten minutes against Eintracht Frankfurt last week, and was installed in the starting line-up for the trip to Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday.
Tomás scored twice in the second half at the BayArena, earning praise from sporting director Sven Mislentat after the match. “I'm happy for him. He ran a lot, is good at pressing, holds the ball well and finishes well. He's really good for us,” said Mislentat.
There was also a Bundesliga goal this week for Raphaël Guerreiro, who scored from close range in Borussia Dortmund’s 3-0 win at Union Berlin. Guerreiro was then named in the whoscored.com Team of the Week in the German top flight, after scoring his 4th goal from just 12 starts in the Bundesliga.
The rest: Xeka bags winner in France, goals in Italy, Turkey, England and beyond
Midfielder Xeka was the hero for French champions Lille this weekend, scoring a late winner to give them a 1-0 victory at Montpellier. Xeka found himself free in the penalty area to convert a loose ball on 77 minutes for his second league goal of the season. “It was a very difficult match. There are games where you don't necessarily have to play well to win. It wasn't the best of matches, but we were looking for victory and we got it,” Xeka said after the game.
Roses are red
— LOSC (@LOSC_EN) February 14, 2022
Violets are blue
Xeka got the goal
And the three points, too ❤️#LOSC | @Ligue1_ENG pic.twitter.com/MoYJCDzNlN
Dany Mota continues to enjoy a fine season with Monza in Italy's Serie B. The Portugal U21 international’s goal in a 4-0 win over SPAL was his 8th in just 14 starts this season, and keeps his side firmly in the play-off places for promotion to Serie A.
Lucas João is re-finding his goalscoring touch in the English Championship after a first half of the season wrecked by injury. Having missed most of the campaign with a hip injury, João now has two goals in four games after scoring against Coventry, but the Royals remain deep in relegation trouble having failed to win in their last 10 matches.
Miguel Cardoso scored an important goal this weekend in Turkey for Kayserispor, although it could have been even better as his Kayserispor side almost won at Galatasaray. Cardoso put the visitors 1-0 up on 69 minutes, but Gala managed to salvage a draw through Mostafa Mohamed’s 85th minute leveller. In Switzerland, Asumah Abubakar scored the winner for Luzern to beat Sion 1-0 in the Super League.
Finally, there were many goals in the quieter corners of the continent. In the English National League – the fifth tier – there was a goal for Erico Sousa of Grimsby as they saw off Aldershot 3-1 to stay in the hunt for a play-off place. In the Welsh Premier League, Paulo Mendes scored for Connah’s Quay as they won 2-0 against Flint Town United.
In keeping with the theme of goalscoring debuts, well-travelled striker Hugo Vieira hit the net on his first start for Maltese side Hibernians in a 4-1 win at Valletta. In Luxembourg, both António Gomes and Artur Abreu scored in Petange’s 4-0 victory at Rodange, while Tino Barbosa struck for Differdange, who won 4-2 at Fola Esch.
By Sean Gillen