Rafa scored inside three minutes, Tomás Araújo and a Pavlidis penalty made it three by half time, and Prestianni added a fourth before the hour. Hearts pulled one back on 72. The return leg is in Edinburgh.

By Vasco Almada

Photo: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The third qualifying round second leg kicks off at 7.45pm on Thursday in Edinburgh. Whoever comes through faces a two-legged play-off on 20 and 27 August for a place in the league phase.

Six-one from the first leg makes Thursday a formality, but it is a formality that still has to be played. Benfica are at Tynecastle Park in Edinburgh on Thursday, kick-off 7.45pm — the same clock time in Lisbon and in Scotland. The tie was effectively settled at the Estádio da Luz on 6 August, when Benfica put six past Hearts. Getting there was messier: they lost 2-1 away to St Gallen in the previous round before winning the return 5-0.

Continue reading

Today is the race's only rest day, spent in Santa Maria da Feira. Alexis Guerin reaches it 1:12 clear of team-mate Artem Nych, with Tiago Antunes third at 1:52.

The Volta a Portugal stops today. It is the only rest day of this edition and it happens in Santa Maria da Feira, at the Europarque, where the teams will do massages, arithmetic and a short spin to keep the legs honest. Tomorrow the break ends in the least forgiving way available: 129 kilometres from Santa Maria da Feira to Peso da Régua, the race's first proper argument with the Douro. The route is set out in the stage-by-stage guide published by the…

Continue reading

The UAE Emirates Dane covered 17.4 kilometres in 21 minutes 13 seconds. Tiago Antunes was second on the stage and moved up to third overall, 1m52s behind Alexis Guerin.

Julius Johansen won stage five of the Volta a Portugal on Monday, the individual time trial from Anadia to Águeda. The UAE Emirates rider covered the 17.4 kilometres in 21 minutes 13 seconds, averaging 49.1 kilometres per hour. Portugal's Tiago Antunes, riding for Efapel Cycling, took second, with Dutchman Axel van der Tuuk of Euskaltel Euskadi third. Alexis Guerin of Anicolor/Campicarn finished the stage eighth, 53 seconds down on the winner, and kept…

Continue reading

The champions beat Alverca 2-0 at the Dragão with two penalties. Benfica drew 2-2 with newly promoted Académico de Viseu behind closed doors, Sporting threw away a two-goal lead at Estrela da Amadora and Braga drew at Moreirense.

The Primeira Liga's opening round finished on Sunday night with a tidy summary: of the four clubs that normally contest the title, exactly one collected three points. FC Porto began the defence of their championship by beating Alverca 2-0 at the Dragão, both goals arriving from the penalty spot inside the first half. André Silva opened the scoring on nine minutes and Gabri Veiga finished it on 44. It was not a spectacle. It was efficiency, and in August…

Continue reading

Stage five is an individual time trial of roughly 17 kilometres from Anadia to Águeda, with a sharp climb at Barrô just before the first intermediate check. First rider off at 13:39, last one home around 17:16.

Seventeen kilometres sounds gentle until you look at the profile. Stage five of the Volta a Portugal runs today from Anadia to Águeda as an individual time trial, and buried in the middle of it is an 800-metre ramp at 7.7% through Barrô, arriving just before the first intermediate check at 9.5 kilometres. That ramp is what turns a power exercise into a pacing problem. Go too hard in the opening kilometres and Barrô collects the debt; hold back too much…

Continue reading

The Anicolor rider wins the summit finish on the highest road in mainland Portugal and takes the yellow jersey, 1m26s clear of teammate Artem Nych on general classification.

Torre did what Torre does. After 154.6 kilometres from Figueiró dos Vinhos to the highest point in mainland Portugal, stage four of the 87th Volta a Portugal pulled the race apart and handed it a new leader. Alexis Guérin went clear with 15 kilometres left and was never seriously threatened. The Frenchman crossed the line 1 minute 44 seconds ahead of his own Anicolor teammate Artem Nych, and took the yellow jersey Rui Oliveira had claimed at Queluz.

Continue reading

Zalazar and Ioannidis put the runners-up in control at the Estádio José Gomes. Antonetti and Souza pulled it back for Estrela da Amadora, and the 2026/27 Primeira Liga opened with Sporting dropping two points.

For about half an hour on Saturday night, the Reboleira went exactly the way Sporting had planned. Zalazar scored straight after the restart, Ioannidis added a second soon after, and the runners-up looked to have their opening fixture of the 2026/27 season tidied away. They did not. Antonetti pulled one back for Estrela da Amadora, the Estádio José Gomes remembered there was still time on the clock, and Souza levelled it late. Two apiece. The full match…

Continue reading

Stage four runs 154.6km from Figueiró dos Vinhos to Covilhã and finishes at the Alto da Torre, 1,993 metres up. It carries more total climbing than any other stage of the race, with roughly 1,500 metres of it on the final ascent alone.

Update: the stage has been run. Alexis Guérin attacked 15km from the top of the Torre, soloed to the win and took the yellow jersey. What follows is the preview published that morning. Some stages add kilometres. This one adds gaps. The 87th Volta a Portugal hits its first real mountain on Sunday: 154.6 kilometres from Figueiró dos Vinhos to Covilhã, finishing at the Alto da Torre. The peloton rolls out of Avenida Dr. Fernando Lacerda at 1.15pm and heads…

Continue reading

A pile-up in the rain took down around thirty riders 42km from the stage four finish and forced organisers to neutralise the race. His team found no fractures, but the Portuguese rider did not start on Friday.

João Almeida did not roll out for stage five of the Tour de Pologne. The day before he had gone down in a mass crash in the wet, and a season that was already awkward now has another question mark on it. The pile-up came 42 kilometres from the finish in Karpacz and involved around thirty riders, race leader Jonathan Milan among them. Organisers neutralised the stage and, after talking to the peloton, changed the closing kilometres. Almeida finished the…

Continue reading

The ceremonial start is at 1pm at Beja's Portas de Mértola and the finish sits beside the walls of Elvas. It is 182.2km with around 2,106m of climbing, on a day when inland Alentejo is back at maximum wildfire risk.

Stage three of the Volta a Portugal is the longest of this year's race, and it runs today from Beja to Elvas over 182.2 kilometres. The ceremonial start is set for 1pm at the Portas de Mértola. There are roughly 2,106 metres of climbing along the way, which on a profile looks mild. In the Alentejo, in August, it is not. The parcours suits a fast finish and the sprinters will fancy another go. Heat is the variable nobody controls, though. Inland Alentejo…

Continue reading

Stage two of the Volta a Portugal, 180.4km from Sines to Albufeira, went to a photo finish. Santiago Mesa took it from Daniel Cavia; Rui Oliveira keeps the yellow jersey.

Sixteen hundredths of a second. That was the gap between Santiago Mesa and Daniel Cavia at the line in Albufeira, close enough that the judges went to the image before anyone could be called the winner of stage two of the Volta a Portugal. It is the Colombian's first stage win of this edition. The route ran 180.4km from Sines down to Albufeira, flat enough to all but guarantee a bunch finish, and a bunch finish is what it produced. Rui Oliveira is still…

Continue reading

Juventus won 2-1 in Biella through Estela Carbonell and Ana Capeta, with Jennie Lakip replying at 90 minutes. On Saturday the Portuguese side play for a Women's Europa Cup place.

Torreense's first European campaign in women's football ended in the semi-final of the Champions League qualifying mini-tournament. The side from Torres Vedras lost 2-1 to Juventus in Biella, in northern Italy, in a game that came far closer to extra time than the scoreline suggests. Estela Carbonell opened the scoring right at the start of the second half, on 46 minutes. Ana Capeta, a Portugal international playing for the Italians, made it two on 66,…

Continue reading

The Tavira-Crédito Agrícola rider covered the 157.1km from Lourinhã to Queluz in 3:39.08, beating Spain's Daniel Cavia in the sprint. Rui Oliveira finished fourth and inherited the leader's jersey from UAE stablemate Julius Johansen.

Francisco Campos took the first road stage of the 87th Volta a Portugal. The Tavira-Crédito Agrícola rider covered the 157.1 kilometres from Lourinhã to Queluz in 3 hours, 39 minutes and 8 seconds, settling it in a bunch sprint ahead of Spain's Daniel Cavia of Burgos-Burpellet-BH and his own teammate Miguel Salgueiro. Two thirds of the stage podium is Portuguese. Tavira can go to bed happy. The more interesting story, though, happened four places further…

Continue reading

153 kilometres finishing at the Queluz National Palace, with a category-three climb in Sintra near the line. Julius Johansen starts in yellow after Tuesday's Belém prologue.

If you live anywhere between Lourinhã and Queluz, today comes with a complication from midday onwards. Stage one of the 87th Volta a Portugal rolls out of Praça José Máximo da Costa in Lourinhã, with the real start at 13:40, and covers 153 kilometres to the Queluz National Palace in Sintra. The stage has since been run: Francisco Campos took the sprint in Queluz and yellow changed hands.

Continue reading