Nacional and SC Farense will be seeking to secure their first win of the 2024-25 Primeira Liga campaign when they square off at the Estadio da Madeira on Sunday.
This will be the first top-flight meeting between the two sides since February 2021, when the visitors secured a 3-2 victory thanks to strikes from Andre Pinto, Ryan Gauld and an own goal from Pedro Mendes.
Match preview
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Primeira Liga newcomers Nacional were left empty handed for a second consecutive game as they were beaten 1-0 by Arouca when the two teams squared off last Sunday.
In an end-to-end affair at the Estadio Municipal de Arouca, Benfica loanee Henrique Araujo made the difference in the tie as his 27th-minute strike fired the Arouquenses to their first win of the campaign.
This followed a 6-1 thrashing against Sporting Lisbon at the Estadio da Madeira on August 17, when Viktor Gyokeres and Fransisco Trincao both scored twice to inspire the Portuguese champions to a resounding victory.
Having secured automatic promotion to the top flight last season, when they finished second in the Segunda Liga with 71 points from 34 games, Tiago Margarido's men have struggled to find their feet in the big league, picking up just one point from the first nine available.
Like this weekend's hosts, Farense failed to get up and running in the new league campaign as they fell to a 5-0 defeat against high-flying Sporting Lisbon at the Estadio de Sao Luis last Friday.
In-form striker Gyokeres delivered the goods once again as he netted a hat-trick to put the Leoes three goals up before an own goal from Luis Africo and Marcus Edwards' 81st-minute strike put the icing on the cake.
Prior to that, Farense suffered a 2-1 home defeat at the hands of 10-man Moreirense in the season curtain-raiser on August 11, six days before losing 1-0 against Rio Ave courtesy of Patrick William's first-half goal.
With last weekend's result, Jose Mota's men have now suffered five back-to-back Primeira Liga defeats, conceding 13 goals and scoring just twice since scraping a 3-2 victory over Estoril Praia on May 5.
Having secured promotion from the second tier in 2023, Farense enjoyed a decent 2023-24 Primeira Liga campaign as they picked up 37 points from 34 matches to finish 10th in the table, and will be aiming to secure a top-half spot this term.
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Team News
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Nacional have brought in Brazilian defender Leo Santos from Guarani and the 25-year-old, who made 12 appearances in the Serie B this season, could be involved this weekend.
On the injury front, Portuguese defender Jose Gomes was forced off injured late in the game against Arouca last time out and the 28-year-old is a doubt for this weekend's matchup.
Farense will take to the pitch without the services of 27-year-old goalkeeper Luiz Felipe, who continues his lengthy spell on the sidelines after picking up a severe injury back in February.
He is joined on the club's injury table by fellow goalkeeper Kaique Pereira, who has been sidelined since coming off with an arm injury in the pre-season game against Benfica on July 12.
Brazilian centre-back Derick Poloni recently completed a move from Spanish second-tier outfit Eldense and the 30-year-old defender could be handed his debut this weekend.
Nacional possible starting lineup:
Franca; Garcia, Ulisses, Ze Vitor, Penha; Esteves, Dias, Costa; Thomas, Butzke, Macedo
SC Farense possible starting lineup:
Velho; Rivaldo, Africo, Moreno, Talys; Neto, Falcao; Belloumi, Geovanny, Matias; Tomane
We say: Nacional 1-1 SC Farense
Nacional and Farense have endured a slow start to the new campaign and will be looking to secure a morale-boosting result this weekend. However, both sides are evenly matched on paper and we predict that they will cancel out each other's efforts at the Estadio da Madeira.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joshua Ojele
