The Leixões Chronicle
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Both of them Rafael Barbosa's — 8.10
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.10, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Real improvement from Stevan Manuel at Leixões
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Stevan Manuel is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Leixões
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rafael Barbosa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Leixões
Diego Raposo and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The terraces12 Oct 2026
One of their own: Benjamin Kanurić
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match10 Oct 2026
Leixões get the job done against Farense
A 2‑0 win over Farense, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Henrique Costa: “That is the standard”
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Alysson
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Rafael Barbosa knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Rafael Barbosa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
- The dugout Leixões pick somebody else ahead of Paulinho
- Player ratings Luccas Paraízo runs at them all day
- Looking ahead A reunion for Fernando Fonseca