AFS take big lead in relegation/promotion playoff | OneFootball

AFS 3-0 Vizela

In the four years since the relegation/promotion playoff was introduced in Portugal the second-tier team has always won. After yesterday’s first leg it is highly likely that sequence will be broken.

In an otherwise evenly matched game between AFS and Vizela, the hosts scored three times in a devastating 8-minute spell in the second half. Gustavo Assunção’s penalty and a quickfire brace by Nigerian winger Babatunde Akinsola put José Mota’s team in charge of the tie.

AVS coach José Mota: “Vizela were much better than us in the first twenty minutes. We weren’t doing a good job at applying pressure in midfield, but from then onwards I made a change – inverting the triangle – and we had more calm on the ball.

“We prepared the game in this way, to apply pressure in midfield and then hit them on the break. I congratulate my players, because this what we intended for the game. It’s a just victory.”

Vizela coach Fábio Pereira: “I think we were superior to Aves in the first half. We had two or three chances but couldn’t finish them. In the second half we conceded a penalty from a counter-attack, the team destabilised and in two more breaks Aves scored two more goals. We reacted and had chances but couldn’t find the finish.

“I think it’s too heavy a defeat for what happened in the 90 minutes but that’s football.”

The second leg will be played in Vizela on Sunday 1 June.