FC Porto thrash Póvoa 13-3 and go provisionally second | OneFootball

“In theory we were the favorites, but it’s on the rink that we have to show that favoritism,” said FC Porto coach Paulo Freitas after the expected 13-3 win over Póvoa, bottom of the Placard Championship. It was Porto’s biggest thrashing in the competition, though it was curiously surpassed later that same afternoon by Óquei de Barcelos, who beat Carvalhos 14-2.

“Above all, I’m very pleased with the competitive attitude. In the first half there were one or two situations where we could have done better, but that’s understandable, given everything the team produced,” said Freitas. Porto temporarily climbed to second place, pending Monday night’s Sporting-Benfica match.

The match began almost immediately with a blue card shown to Edu Lamas after just two minutes, and the scoring was opened in the 9th minute by Ezequiel Mena, with Lamas making it 2-0 in the 10th. In three minutes, Luís Melo and Rodrigo Fernandes restored parity at 2-2, but then the Dragons began to pile on: Rafa in the 17th minute, Gonçalo Alves in the 18th, Carlo di Benedetto in the 20th, the Frenchman again in the 22nd, and Telmo Pinto in the 25th made it 7-2, which was the score at halftime.

Gonçalo Alves and Edu Lamas stretched it to 9-2, Luís Melo grabbed his second and scored Póvoa’s third, but FC Porto still had another four goals left in them: Ezequiel Mena (46th), Carlo di Benedetto (46th), Gonçalo Alves (48th) and Pol Manrubia (50th).

With three goals and two assists each, Gonçalo Alves and Carlo Di Benedetto were the standout performers, along with youngster Tiago Saraiva. “He helped us in the defensive process, in transitions and in positional attack — he deserves congratulations,” praised Paulo Freitas.

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