Marked for Alex Lima
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Léo Teixeira beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 32. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Tiago Leite and Felgueiras agree another 4 years.
Match5 Dec 2026
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Léo Teixeira 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Nuno Félix falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Jonatan Reis
“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.
Match7 Dec 2026
Half the programme played, position 8, 22 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
André Moreira gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say André Moreira is on it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Bruno Souza slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Bruno Souza is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match14 Nov 2026
4 matches without a win for Felgueiras
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Felgueiras are no longer polite ones.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Léo Teixeira and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Felgueiras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nuno Félix is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Elton
“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 dugout16 Nov 2026
Half-satisfied: Rui Costa on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Tiago Leite asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Alex Lima dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Match14 Nov 2026
Point won or two lost for Felgueiras?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Portimonense? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match28 Oct 2026
The cup run ends for Felgueiras
0‑1 against Porto, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Match31 Oct 2026
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Lucas Duarte will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Felgueiras escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A brace, and Lucas Duarte takes the afternoon — 9.06
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lucas Duarte provided it, and the 9.06 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Felgueiras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Juliano is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Alex Lima
“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.
Match31 Oct 2026
It finished 3‑3, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Market2 Nov 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Felgueiras, another week without a signature from Tiago Leite.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
Léo Teixeira and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Harel Levi is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Nuno Félix falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Thiago Sales gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Rui Costa: “We have to be better”
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Alex Lima dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
A defender's afternoon for Nuno Félix
Defensive actions: 13. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match17 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Maritimo will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Sep 2026
6 matches without a win for Felgueiras
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Felgueiras are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Léo Teixeira and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Harel Levi is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Felgueiras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elton is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Thiago Sales, and the manager let it.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market21 Sep 2026
Felgueiras have made Léo Teixeira available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Armando Lopes knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Felgueiras, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Rui Costa after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The offer went to Rio Ave this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Léo Teixeira and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Felgueiras asked and Sporting CP said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Felgueiras training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Afonso Peixoto is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match22 Aug 2026
A point taken on 95 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Armando Lopes, and the manager let it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Match22 Aug 2026
A 2‑2 draw with Leiria leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.