FC Porto B bounce back from crisis, edge Marítimo 1-0 | OneFootball

After eight rounds of the II Liga, FC Porto B finally achieved their first victory of the 2025/26 season, defeating Marítimo 1-0 at the Estádio Luís Filipe Menezes in Vila Nova de Gaia.

The spotlight goes to João Brandão, who benefited from three players being “fished” from the main squad: João Costa, Martim Fernandes, and Yann Karamoh all started the match after having remained on the bench for the “seniors” by technical decision of Francesco Farioli in the 4-0 thrashing of Celoricense, a result that secured qualification for the fourth round of the Portuguese Cup.

The only goal of the match came in the 14th minute, when Rodrigo Borges, while trying to clear a low cross from Ángel Alarcón intended for Trofim Melnichenko, ended up “betraying” Samuel Silva and putting the ball into his own net.

Seven minutes later, Yann Karamoh scored again, but the play was disallowed by the refereeing team led by Marcos Brazão, after VAR intervention flagged Trofim Melnichenko for an offside position at the start of the move.

In the second half, Marítimo pressed and even had the hosts “on the ropes,” but their finishing was ineffective and the islanders thus suffered an away defeat at this early stage of the championship.

The standings and what’s still to come

Although this FC Porto B–Marítimo match was part of the eighth round, the games for this matchday continue only from Friday, with Torreense–Oliveirense at 18:45 (Portugal mainland time) and Vizela–Felgueiras at 20:45.

On Saturday, Sporting B–Lusitânia de Lourosa and União de Leiria–Leixões both play at 11:00; Paços de Ferreira–Portimonense at 14:00; Académico de Viseu–Desportivo de Chaves and Feirense–Benfica, both at 15:30. The round concludes on Sunday with Farense–Penafiel at 11:00.

Based solely on this early fixture, FC Porto B now has five points and provisionally climbs to 16th place, second to last in the standings, level with Paços de Ferreira and with a slight advantage over Benfica B, who occupy the bottom spot.

Marítimo remains, for now, in 2nd place with 14 points, the same as Vizela and one less than leaders Sporting B, who could extend their lead. The islanders still risk being overtaken by Desportivo de Chaves and/or União de Leiria, should those clubs win their matches.

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