Rock-solid defence: Diogo Costa and Bednarek win monthly awards | OneFootball

Liga Portugal announced this Monday the election of Diogo Costa and Jan Bednarek – both from FC Porto – as the best goalkeeper and best defender of the month, respectively, for the I Liga matches played in December of last year.

During the period under review, FC Porto triumphed in Tondela (0-2), defeated Estrela da Amadora at home (3-1), won in Alverca (0-3), and beat AVS (2-0). In four matches, the team conceded only one goal, remaining the best defense in the league, with just four goals conceded after 17 rounds.

Diogo Costa collected 39.81% of the votes, surpassing Lukas Hornicek of Sporting de Braga, who received 13.59%, and Andrew Ventura of Gil Vicente, with 10.58% of the preferences from the competition’s head coaches.

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It is worth noting that the Portuguese international goalkeeper started all four I Liga matches in December, although he did not play every minute: he was substituted at halftime in the match against AVS (2-0) due to injury, with Cláudio Ramos completing the final 45 minutes.

There was even a… hat-trick

In the same spirit of defensive solidity from FC Porto, Jan Bednarek was also recognized, despite having played in three of the four matches that month. For the Polish international, this marks his third consecutive award, following those for September/October and November.

The 29-year-old center-back garnered 25.89% of the votes from I Liga coaches, finishing ahead of his compatriot and teammate Jakub Kiwior, with 16.96%, and Ousmane Diomande, who completed the podium with 7.14%.

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At the end of the first half of the season, it should be noted that FC Porto leads the league comfortably with 49 points, seven more than the two-time champion Sporting and ten more than Benfica.

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