Fans on Wednesday found a way not to be left out as the Portuguese Primeira Liga resumed in empty stadiums, with leaders Porto losing 2-1 at Famalicao.
Fans could be heard chanting outside the ground during the match, while some supporters watched from the balconies of nearby buildings overlooking the pitch.
Porto fans had gathered to support the side as they left their hotel for the match, as the league returned after a shutdown of nearly three months because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The competition officially resumed earlier on Wednesday when relegation-threatened Portimonense SC defeated midtable Gil Vicente 1-0 at home.
Local authorities had expressed concern over the Porto match after one of the club’s fan groups said that about 300 people would make the away trip to support the side.
Although the group said that they would follow the health and safety measures established by authorities, there was virtually no social distancing as the fans sang, waved flags and cheered on the side as their bus passed on its way to the stadium.
The chants from fans outside the stadium were loudly heard during the television broadcast before the match, but eventually subsided.
About 50 fans took advantage of buildings near the small municipal stadium to watch the match, even if from afar.
Media members were allowed to cover the match.
Two big banners placed in the main stands read: “We stay together” and “For all of us, thank you.”
Players wore masks on the benches and there were few interactions before the match, which started following a moment of silence as the players gathered around the center circle.
Club officials stayed a few meters from each other in the VIP seats.
Huge images of crowds were placed in the stands at the stadium in Portimao in the earlier match, along with banners from sponsors.
Lucas Fernandes scored in the second half for Portimonense with a long-range strike into the upper corner, ending the side’s winless streak that dated to November last year and moving them closer to safety.
Porto, who arrived one point in front of Benfica, conceded early in the second half after a blunder by goalkeeper Agustin Marchesin, who gave the ball away while under pressure inside the penalty box. Fabio Martins picked it up and scored into the open net.
Porto equalized through Jesus “Tecatito” Corona from close range in the 74th minute, but Pedro Goncalves put the hosts ahead again less than five minutes later with a low shot from outside the penalty area, igniting a celebration that included hugs among several players.
It was Porto’s first league loss since January and only Famalicao’s third win of the year. Famalicao, who were near the top of the standings at the start of the season, moved to fifth place with the home win.
Defending champions SL Benfica were in position to retake the lead when hosting 14th-placed CD Tondela at the Estadio da Luz yesterday.
The league was originally scheduled to resume at the end of last month, but a week’s delay allowed time to rigorously inspect stadiums and conduct medical tests on all professionals involved in the matches.
Some venues did not immediately pass the inspections by health authorities and had to make changes before being re-evaluated.
The remaining 10 rounds of the league are expected to be played without fans in the stadiums.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier