Canadians in Europe: Vitória helps shock Sporting
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Steven Vitória helped lead Chaves to a famous victory and Theo Corbeanu stayed hot to earn a point for Blackpool in Championship action. Here's a look at Canadians in Europe over the weekend.
Steven Vitória, Chaves - Chaves has returned to the Primeira Liga for the first time since 2019 and only four matches into the season, the team has a signature victory with Toronto native and club captain Steven Vitória leading the charge. The promoted side travelled to Lisbon on Saturday to take on one of the giants of Portuguese football in Sporting at Estadio Jose Alvalade. As expected, it was one-traffic for much of the first half with the hosts pouring it on in waves, but finding themselves unable to find purchase. In the 13th, some deft passing led to Pedro Goncalves giving it a go from just outside the area, but his low drive rang off the far post and then deflected off of the arm of a diving Paulo Vitor before ricocheting out of play. Minutes later, Pedro would test Vitor again, but the Chaves 'keeper was up for it, diving to deny the Portugal midfielder. The hosts kept the pressure on in the closing minutes of the half with Rochinha forcing a save from Vitor from a tight angle at close range. After being hemmed into their own end for much of the first half, the visitors tried to open things up in the second. This, of course, would open them up to attacks on the counter and Sporting almost succeeded with one in the 54th when Marcus Edwards fired from a tricky angle, but Vitor parried to safety. The visitors had their first real opportunity of the match only seconds later when Nuno Santos sprung Hector Hernandez with a fine pass, but Antonio Adan sprinted off his line to cut the angle and deny his Spanish countryman. Chaves would strike through Vitória in the 60th. From a free kick, Baxti looped in a delivery to just inside the Porto area. Vitória met the service with a lofting header with power went over a diving Adan and into the back of the Sporting net. It was Vitória's first goal for his new club and the 11th Primeira Liga marker of his career. Chaves would put the match to bed only five minutes later. Kevin Pina beat the Sporting offside trap and threaded a pass to spring Paulinho in alone. The Brazilian striker waited out the oncoming Adan, walked around him and fired home into the empty net. The victory was Chaves's first ever at Sporting and the club's first victory over the Leões since 1987. "A historic victory, a huge happiness, but you have to keep your feet on the ground," Vitória told Sport TV after the game as he accepted his Man of the Match honours. "It was a great game, a huge second half. Our coach said at half-time, and rightly, that we were going to win this game, with all due respect for a great team, a great club. But Chaves is to be congratulated. We made history and we don't want to stop here."
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Jonathan David, Lille - A week after a 7-1 thrashing by Paris Saint-Germain, Lille got back on track with a comfortable win over Ajaccio in Corsica. Lille got first-half goals from Yusuf Yazici and Jonathan Bamba to take a 2-0 lead into the break before Tiago Djalo added another in the 67th. The hosts grabbed a consolation marker in the 84th through Cyrille Bayala. Ottawa's Jonathan David had the opportunity to make the margin of victory larger and pick up his third goal of the season in the 90th, but that wasn't in the cards. As Lille pressed forward for one more goal, the referee pointed to the spot when he adjudged Qazim Laci to have tripped up Angel Gomes in the area. The protest from Laci was a mild one as he quite obviously did foul the Manchester United youth product. Gomes would not step up to take his own penalty, though, with David assuming the duties instead. Aiming for the inside of the right post, David struck a low drive, but was denied by a diving Benjamin Leroy and leaving the match to finish at 3-1. While the penalty was not a poor one, had David lofted his effort with a little more power behind it, he would have likely beaten the 'keeper even if Leroy had guessed right. The three points lifted Lille into sixth in the table, level on points with Lyon in fourth and three back of PSG atop the table.
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Theo Corbeanu, Blackpool - Broomfield Road played host to a thrilling draw between hosts Blackpool and the visiting Bristol City on Saturday as the two clubs continued to jockey for position in the early days of the Championship season. The Robins thought they were about to escape with the three points, but Hamilton's Theo Corbeanu had other ideas. The hosts got on the board early. After some nice work from Gary Madine, Josh Bowler opened the scoring in the seventh minute when his low drive was deflected past goalkeeper Daniel Bentley. Bristol City would level matters just before halftime. Alex Scott's low service into the goalmouth was was poked home at the near post by Tommy Conway to send the teams into the locker rooms at 1-1. Blackpool would take the lead once more 10 minutes after the restart. From a corner, Jordan Thorniley's header towards goal was flicked into the net by Jerry Yates with a sidefoot in the 55th. But the lead wouldn't last long. Taking advantage of Dominic Thompson's tumble in the area and some generally untidy Blackpool defending, Antoine Semenyo tied the game with a low drive in the 63rd. Things went from bad to worse for the hosts only minutes later. Kai Naismith's bending low free kick fooled Daniel Grimshaw, who did well to react quickly enough to get back to parry it away. Nakhi Wells pounced on the rebound, but his header met the crossbar. Marvin Ekpiteta arrived on the scene to clear the ball, but accidentally deflected it into his own net instead, giving the Robins their first lead of the match in the 70th. In the closing minutes of the match, the visitors were clearly struggling with Blackpool's press as they sought an equalizer. They would find it in the 90th thanks to Corbeanu. A poor pass by Matty James was pounced on by Corbeanu, who muscled his way into the area and chipped over the oncoming Bentley to salvage the 3-3 draw. The 20-year-old Corbeanu, on loan from Wolves, now has goals in back-to-back matches, having previously scored in Blackpool's 3-3 draw with Burnley last week.