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Canadians in Europe: Eustáquio, Larin star

Stephen Eustáquio Porto Stephen Eustáquio, Porto celebrate - Getty Images
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Stephen Eustáquio picked up more silverware for Porto, while Cyle Larin and Sabrina D'Angelo made instant impacts for their new teams. Here's a look at what Canadians did in European football over the past few days.


Stephen Eustáquio, Porto - The trophy case at Estádio do Dragão is a large one and filled to the brim with honours. Porto is a 30-time Primeira Liga winner an 18-time Taça de Portugal winner, a two-time UEFA/Europa League winner and two-time European Cup/Champions League winner. But up until Sunday, there was one major honour that was conspicuously missing among the multitude. Porto had won 83 major honours, but never had claimed the Taça da Liga. That changed on Sunday when Leamington, Ont.'s Stephen Eustáquio helped the team capture the Portuguese League Cup for the first time in a 2-0 win over Sporting. Porto struck early. In the the 11th, Pepê broke down the right and curled in a cross just as he reached the touchline. The ball bounced through the box and fell to Wendell just outside the area. He teed up Eustáquio, who made himself a little bit of room and hammered with his right foot from distance to beat a diving Antonio Adán, who managed to get a hand to it, but just not enough to stop it. It was Eustáquio's seventh goal in all competitions this season. Sporting thought they answered back almost immediately when Tottenham Hotspur academy product Marcus Edwards was played in past the backline and beat Diogo Costa in the 13th, but his muted celebration indicated that he knew he was offside, something that VAR confirmed shortly thereafter. Porto lived dangerously as the half came to a close. First in the 35th, Spain right-back Pedro Porro, believed to be imminently moving to Spurs before the transfer window closes, unleashed a right-footed effort that rang off of the crossbar. The rebound fell for Paulinho, who teed up for Pedro Gonçalves. The Portugal midfielder's hard shot deflected off of Mateus Uribe and right into the near post. A few more inches the other way and it would have been a goal because Costa would have been powerless to stop it. Paulinho would have a pair of chances go for naught ahead of the break when he scuffed shots that he probably should have scored on. Any chance for a Sporting comeback in the second half was snuffed out in the 70th when Paulinho went into the book for a second time after catching Otávio with a trailing elbow. Porto would take advantage of the numerical advantage in the 86th when Pepê's picture perfect cross to the far post was comfortably headed in by a completely unmarked Ivan Marcano to wrap up the victory. The victory means that Eustáquio has won all three domestic trophies in Portugal during his time at Porto.

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Cyle Larin, Real Valladolid - Cyle Larin simply wasn't getting enough playing time at Club Brugge. The Brampton, Ont. native had only 199 minutes of match time across nine appearances and a single start for the Belgian champions this season, so a loan move to get more game action made perfect sense. Last week, the CanMNT's all-time record goal scorer joined Real Valladolid on loan for the remainder of the season with an option to buy. Valladolid finds themselves locked in a relegation battle in La Liga, but Larin showed his quality on Sunday and maybe the way to avoid the drop. Valladolid hosted Valencia, a team filled with veteran talent, but one much closer to the bottom of the table than the top half where they are accustomed to being for much of the past 25 years. It was the visitors who came closest to opening the scoring in the first five minutes. From a corner, Edinson Cavani forced Jordi Masip into save at the near post with a finely placed header in the fifth. Minutes later, Cristhian Mosquera should have put Valencia ahead when he dragged a free header wide off of another corner. Right after the restart, Valladolid nearly found the game's first goal when a cleared ball fell to the feet of Oscar Plano, whose hard shot forced Giorgi Mamardashvili into a fine diving save. He made another good stop in the 59th when he smartly cleared a low drive by Darwin Machís. In the 61st, the hosts almost broke the deadlock after some sloppy play from Valencia. A mistimed back pass put José Gayà under pressure and he was dispossessed by Gonzalo Plata, who broke in alone, but his low drive was turned aside by Mamardashvili. In the 70th, Plata tested Mamardashvili with a difficult bouncing shot, but the Georgia 'keeper was able to gather the rebound before Sergio Leon could pounce. Minutes later, Leon would give way for Larin in his debut. After more pressure from the hosts led to nothing, Larin finished off a fine team effort to wrap up the three points in the match's final minute. Plata started the move by dispossessing Justin Kluivert at midfield and quickly finding Larin. Moving forward, Larin went wide to a trailing Machís, who sent a deep cross to the far post for Larin to hammer home at close range with his right foot. The three points took Vallodolid level on points with Valencia and one clear of Cadiz in the drop zone.

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Sabrina D'Angelo, Arsenal - Sabrina D'Angelo became the sixth CanWNT member to join the Women's Super League when she officially signed for Arsenal last week from Swedish side Vittsjö GIK. The 29-year-old Welland, Ont. native now plies her trade in England alongside Kadeisha Buchanan and Jessie Fleming, both of Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur's Shelina Zadorsky, Deanne Rose of Reading and Manchester United's Adriana Leon (defender Jayde Riviere is expected to join Leon at United imminently). D'Angelo was handed her first start for the Gunners last Thursday when they hosted Aston Villa in a League Cup quarterfinals tie. Record five-time winners of the League Cup, the Gunners have not claimed the honour in five years and are currently in the midst of their longest drought in the 12-year-old competition. In the 29th, the hosts would get on the board first through Frida Maanum. Collecting the ball from a throw-in, the Norway midfielder made her way to the lip of the area and used a pair of defenders as a screen to drag a low shot inside the far post and past a diving Hannah Hampton. Only seconds later, D'Angelo was called into action for the first time. Looking to strike back immediately after falling behind, Kirsty Hanson took a shot towards the near post from a sharp angle, but D'Angelo easily handled the Scotland forward's low drive. D'Angelo made another save only a minute later when Alisha Lehmann's shot from distance didn't greatly trouble her. Maanum bagged a second not long after the restart thanks to some sloppy play from the visitors. Caitlin Foord forced a quick turnover from a Villa throw-in and played in Maanum, who struck a hard right-footed effort past Hampton to make it 2-0 in the 51st. Maanum and Foord would finish the job in the 60th with a fine give-and-go with Maanum deftly playing Foord in behind the defence and the Australia forward slipped a low shot between Hampton's legs to make it 3-0. With the victory, Arsenal now moves on to play holders Manchester City on Feb. 8 in the semi-finals.