FC Porto thrash Arsenal da Devesa (51-26), leapfrog Sporting and Benfica | OneFootball

FC Porto opened the 13th round of the national handball championship this Thursday by crushing Arsenal da Devesa 51-26, and provisionally took the lead above Sporting and Benfica.

The dragons started off explosively, leading 13-2 in the opening minutes; by halftime, they were winning 26-12. In the second half, the lead almost doubled (25-14), finishing at 51-26 in the end.

This thrashing was greatly contributed by Antonio Martínez and Pedro Oliveira, with nine and eight goals, respectively, followed by Linus Persson, who scored seven.

With this victory, FC Porto now totals 35 points at the top of the standings, resulting from ten wins, two draws, and one loss; the draws occurred precisely in the two previous rounds, against Benfica (27-27) and ABC (32-32).

It should be noted that the 13th round was mainly marked by the derby between rivals Benfica and Sporting, which was postponed to December 19 due to the tight European schedule for both teams.

For now, Sporting occupies second place with 33 points, resulting from 11 wins in 11 games, while Benfica also has 33 points, with ten wins, one draw, and one loss.

FC Porto returns to the championship on December 6, traveling to Belenenses' pavilion; before that, they face Kriens-Luzern in Switzerland next Tuesday at 5:45 PM (Portugal Mainland time) in a European Handball League match.

Sporting was successful in Europe

Almost simultaneously with FC Porto-Arsenal da Devesa, Sporting returned to victories in the Handball Champions League by beating the Norwegians of Kolstad IL 44-31, avoiding the risk of a crisis after two consecutive defeats in the competition.

The start was balanced, but the team led by Ricardo Costa never allowed the opponent to take the lead and gradually increased the difference to 22-15 at halftime.

This seven-goal advantage proved difficult for the Nordics to overturn in the second half (22-16), with the difference increasing to 13 goals until the final 44-31.

With this result, Sporting has 10 points and occupies fourth place in Group A, with the same points as the powerful Veszprém from Hungary – both behind Aalborg, with 15, and the leader Fuchse Berlin.

Right after the lions, still in the qualifying zone, are Nantes from France, with eight points, and Kielce from Poland, with seven. At the bottom of the table are Dinamo Bucharest from Romania and Kolstad from Norway.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.