Full-time! Crucial win for FC Porto over Nacional da Madeira, 1-0 | OneFootball

FC Porto left behind their two consecutive ‘slips’ against Casa Pia (a 2-1 defeat) and Sporting (a 1-1 draw) and returned to winning ways on Sunday afternoon, defeating Nacional at the Estádio da Madeira by 0-1, with a ‘solitary’ goal from Jan Bednarek.

This result allows the blue and white club to restore their ‘cushion’ at the top of the Primeira Liga and worsens the situation of the islanders, who have managed only one win in their last eight matches, remaining dangerously close to the ‘relegation’ spots in the top tier of Portuguese football.

FC Porto was expected to be quite patched up due to injuries to Martim Fernandes and Jakub Kiwior, but Francesco Farioli’s offensive plan – with Rodrigo Mora playing behind Deniz Gul and Oskar Pietuszewski on the left – ended up falling flat, largely due to the counter-plan of Tiago Margarido.

Oskar Pietuszewski and Deniz Gul never shied away from a challenge, but Rodrigo Mora was ‘swallowed up’ by Joel Silva, who rarely gave him space to dictate the game. Even so, the Dragons managed, at times, to get around the islanders’ resistance.

In the 11th minute, Oskar Pietuszewski cut in from the wing and shot straight at Kaique; in the 13th and 18th minutes, headers from Deniz Gul and Thiago Silva met the same fate. None of these moves posed any real danger to the Brazilian goalkeeper.

Curiously, the only goalkeeper truly called into action in the first half was Diogo Costa, who, in the 33rd minute, made an instinctive save in two stages when Jesús Ramírez rose to head a corner taken by Igor Liziero from the right side.

Farioli kept the solution on the bench

The pattern continued in the second half: more possession for FC Porto, few goal-scoring opportunities, so Francesco Farioli made changes, taking off Rodrigo Mora and Oskar Pietuszewski and bringing on Gabri Veiga and Borja Sainz.

A ‘bullseye’: the first time he touched the ball, taking a corner kick, Gabri Veiga placed the ball directly onto Jan Bednarek’s head, who nodded it into the back of Nacional’s net, giving Kaique no chance.

From that moment, the visiting team adopted a more conservative approach, given the importance of the result in the title race, while the hosts still tried to avoid another ‘bitter taste’, but failed to trouble Diogo Costa.

With this victory, FC Porto now have 59 points, seven more than Sporting (who still have to face Famalicão at the Estádio José Alvalade) and Benfica (who beat Santa Clara 1-2). Nacional remain on 21 points after 22 rounds and occupy 14th place.

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