Tenacious Tomané gives AVS hope after securing their first Liga Portugal win | OneFootball

Photo: AVS SAD

Twenty-two matches later, AVS Futebol SAD rediscovered the path to league victory.

When questioned regarding the significance of the shock 3-0 victory over Estoril last weekend, AVS manager João Henriques admitted:

“It’s a relief, but a deserved one. The players began to question their quality, and I promised them that it hadn’t disappeared. We’re growing, improving and are more competitive.”

Although cut adrift at the bottom of the standings, the team from Vila das Aves have not given up the fight to avoid relegation, as Henriques stressed: “We'll stay focused, accumulate points and see what happens at the end of the season. We’ve closed the gap on those ahead of us, and we still must face them all.”

The stars aligned as Ian Cathro’s Estoril admitted they were “shocked” by the AVS opener, and repeatedly frustrated in front of goal.

While one of Portugal’s most entertaining sides faltered, Tomané made no mistake.

In another paramount performance (11 duels won), Tomané calmly slotted past former Everton goalkeeper Joel Robles, embodying the focal point AVS have so desperately lacked.

The Matchday 22 PortuGOAL Figure of the Week had to be from AVS, and Tomané is the deserving nominee. The lowdown on the veteran journeyman is courtesy of Kevin Fernandes.

From Serbia to Santo Tirso

António Manuel Fernandes Mendes was born in Fafe, Braga, which is a region steeped in dense Portuguese football heritage, making headlines as recently as this season.

Aged 13, Tomané (a fusion of the common Portuguese names António and Manuel) was integrated into the Vitória Sport Clube academy after a short passage with fallen giants Boavista.

After winning two youth titles, aged 17, the centre-forward made his senior debut. However, the turbulence would commence as it would take three years for Tomané to make his second league appearance for Vitória’s first team, where he would score.

In a mindful attempt to keep this short and concise, Tomané has represented AD Limianos, MSV Duisburg, Panetolikos, FC Arouca, CD Tondela, Crvena Zvezda Samsunspor, APOEL Nicosia and SC Farense.

From earning sixteen international youth caps for Portugal to winning four league titles across Europe, Tomané’s career has been uncertain, unpredictable, yet undeniably successful.

From regular, exquisite goals, even against the traditional Portuguese ‘Big 3’.

To being linked with big moves to the likes of SC Braga, the streets certainly won’t forget Tomané.

Tough nut

Renowned in Portugal for his defensive work rate and dominance in duels as a self-proclaimed ‘worker for the team’, Tomané remains a handful for every Liga Portugal defender.

According to ZeroZero, there is no player in Portugal contesting and winning more ground and aerial duels than Tomané.

While his physical traits may be dwindling and efficiency in front of goal has never been his defining trait, Tomané can still attack space effectively and pull that sporadic rabbit out of the hat.

The 1.86m tall forward is often isolated in an uninspired frontline where overwhelmingly individualistic attacks are regularly squandered prematurely. Hold-up play is valuable for the defence to breathe and attempt to step-up, but irrelevant if the attempt at linking play is rendered practically impossible.

From his impressive stint at Tondela to often thankless efforts for AVS, Tomané is underappreciated as a quality toiler.

As this is being written, AVS are nine points behind the relegation play-off spot and 12 points from safety. With the latest PortuGOAL Figure of the Week amongst the ranks, everything remains mathematically possible.