Portugal
Primeira Liga
Friday 17th February 2023
Kick Off 20.15 Actual 20.16
Gil Vicente 1 F.C. Vizela 1, attendance 3,212
55’ 1-0
86’ 1-1
@ Estadio Cidade de Barcelos
Rua de Raizes
Vila Boa
4750-282 Barcelos
€20 Admission
No Programme.
Today signalled my return to flying, following my cardiac arrest back in July. We were on the 09.35 easyJet flight out of London Gatwick, bound for Porto, on what was a planned weekend of Iberian football. As expected, the flight was late (51 minutes), but we only had a 34 mile drive north to Barcelos for our first game, so no problem, even though it took almost an hour to collect our hire car due to it being unexpectedly busy. We headed to the ground first, where it was a glorious 22 degrees. Tickets were duly sorted and we were soon checked in at our hotel, which was a little over twenty minutes walk back for the match later on.
Gil Vicente, who are named after the Portuguese playwright, will celebrate their centenary next year. They’re not one of the ‘big boys’ of Portuguese football, but they have won 2 Segunda League titles (1999 and 2011) and were runners-up in the Taça da Liga in 2012, having lost 2-1 to Benfica in the final. They have been playing at the 12,046 capacity Estadio Cidade de Barcelos, which belongs to the local municipality, since the 2004/05 season, having previously been based at the Estadio Adelino Ribeiro Novo, which now hosts their youth team matches.
Tonight’s game was 14th versus 10th in the league table. It has to be said, it wasn’t the greatest of games, with the second half a vast improvement on the first, although that is hardly surprising. Apart from the hosts hitting the crossbar with a curling shot just before the half hour mark, it was pretty sterile stuff. The halftime pep talk certainly changed things. Within three minutes of the restart Gil Vicente were awarded a penalty, but a poorly hit effort was easily saved. It only took another seven minutes for them to break the deadlock though, when a cross from the right was knocked down and a deflected shot gave the ‘keeper no chance. They almost doubled their lead when a 30 yard free kick went narrowly wide, but they paid the price for not killing off the game with a second goal, when Vizela deservedly levelled four minutes from time, when a free kick was played across the box and finished at the far post, much to the delight of the 250 or so away fans housed at that end. There was still time for Gil Vicente to have a man red carded as we headed into stoppage time, but both teams appeared to have already settled for a point by this stage.
