Money behind magic in Portugal
Benfica have a three-point lead but the champions have a game in hand.
Everyone else is out of it. Braga are 10 points behind; Sporting, Benfica’s eternal Lisbon rivals, are one of nine mid-table sides thinking nervously about a relegation dog-fight.
On Sunday night the leaders met in the first of their two heavyweight title fights — the return comes in May and will likely be the decider.
You can usually rely on the classico to produce some fireworks; this one lived up to its billing from the start.
Porto took the game to the home team and went ahead twice. Benfica twice pulled them back. Just like a classic heavyweight contest of old the knock-downs came in the opening rounds. A couple of sucker punches, a dropped guard and one real haymaker. It was 2-2 after 17 minutes and there it stayed as both sides slugged it out, sometimes literally, without quite finding the killer blow.
The visitors pressed and pressed, then gradually tired. Their big Colombian striker Jackson Martinez threatened but could never quite deliver his second goal. Benfica’s Paraguayan centre-forward Oscar Cardozo seemed to have found the winner when he burst through the centre with 13 minutes left, but his shot was somehow touched onto the post by Porto’s Brazilian goalkeeper Helton.
On the flanks, Benfica’s two Argentinian forwards tried to find a way to goal behind the Porto defence only to be countered by their two young Brazilian wing-backs.
Most of the time it was a battle in midfield: Lucho Gonzalez, back at Porto after his three years at Marseille, showing the value of experience; Nemanja Matic, a tower of strength for Benfica, proving he’s come of age.
Hardly a local among them, although both Joao Moutinho and Silvestre Varela put in a shift for Porto — and that does tell part of the story of what’s been happening to Portuguese football. Their best players, like most of their best managers, are working abroad.
Top clubs in Portugal have often drawn on South American or African talent but recently they’ve become totally dependent on foreign scouting networks and contacts to remain competitive in Europe.
It is a fantastic conveyor belt, particularly at Porto, who turned Falcao into a world star and are now seeking to do the same with two other Colombian forwards: Martinez and James Rodriguez. Rodriguez is just 21, like their two full-backs Danilo and Alex Sandro, both signed from Santos.
As well as good talent-spotting what’s making this possible is the relaxed Portuguese attitude to player ownership. Fifa and Uefa want to clamp down on investment funds taking shares in what are known as “economic rights” — ie shares in a player’s transfer value.
The potential for abuse and even corruption is obvious. But there’s no denying that outside investment means that a club such as Porto can compete on more level terms with Real Madrid or Manchester United. In one sense it restores some balance to a transfer market that is otherwise more and more skewed. It also gives opportunities to players. Eliaquim Mangala and Steven Defour both came to Porto from Belgian club Standard Liege. Both are part-owned by an investment fund.
Ola John was signed by Benfica from Dutch side FC Twente. He’s also part-owned by the same fund.
The difficulty is that these deals are becoming much more widespread as the financial crisis continues, particularly in countries with relaxed regulations such as Portugal, Spain and Turkey. Also third-part ownership is banned in some countries — England included — but there is nothing to prevent a rich club, or an owner or a shareholder, from secretly buying shares in players abroad through an investment fund.
Fans in Portugal and Spain also have mixed feelings. Porto sold Falcao for a big fee to Atletico Madrid, yet a lot of the money went elsewhere. Sporting have acquired 11 young players who are part-owned by outsiders. Only one of them, the Dutch striker Ricky van Wolfswinkel, looks likely to be a success. Meanwhile Sporting’s prospects have nosedived and theirfinances look more fragile than ever.
