Left Sporting for free, now UEFA star after Brugge v Barcelona | OneFootball

Club Brugge came very close to making history and achieving their first-ever victory against Barcelona, but ultimately had to settle for a 3-3 draw, in a match marked by a stellar performance from Carlos Forbs, who delivered a memorable night in the Champions League.

The player who came through Sporting’s youth academy started the match and was named Man of the Match by UEFA, after directly contributing to all three goals for the Belgian team: first, he assisted Tresoldi for the 1-0 (6’), then scored on a counterattack to make it 2-1 (17’), and netted his second in the 63rd minute, already in the second half. However, an own goal by Tzolis ended up costing Brugge the win.

With the conclusion of the fourth round of the league phase, Carlos Forbs was also nominated for Champions League Player of the Week, competing with Mikel Merino (who scored twice for Arsenal against Slavia Prague, 3-0), Phil Foden (who scored a brace in Manchester City’s 4-1 win over Dortmund), and Victor Osimhen, who netted a hat-trick in Galatasaray’s victory over Ajax.

It’s worth noting that, at the end of the match, his coach Nicky Hayan offered high praise: “I’m very proud of the players. They executed the plan almost perfectly: they kept the lines tight, double-marked on the wings, Tzolis and Forbs worked hard to neutralize Barça’s flanks and we made very good use of the spaces. Forbs also impressed: he is a very fast player, with depth and strong individual action. Today, he showed his qualities once again.”

Carlos Forbs was part of the Sporting youth system in the 2013/14 and 2014/15 seasons before leaving on a free transfer to Manchester City. In the summer of 2023, he moved to Ajax for 14 million, before being loaned to Wolverhampton. In the last transfer window, he signed permanently with the Belgian team for 8.5 million euros.

The moment Carlos Forbs received the Man of the Match award:

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