0‑3 against Benfica, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
The terraces21 Dec 2026
A cup hiding at Benfica leaves Leixões explaining themselves
0-3, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 6 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Kévin Zohi 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.
10 combined actions and 6.67. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Cláudio Araújo 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.
Rafael Barbosa 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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Minute 87, against Pacos de Ferreira, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Leixões training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jhon Cabal 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.
It needed Kévin Zohi to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Pacos de Ferreira, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Position 16 and 10 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Rafael Barbosa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Kévin Zohi 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Afonso Nascimento after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. José Bica has come out of that comparison in the side, and Leixões have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Pacos de Ferreira in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Leixões, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kévin Zohi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Afonso Nascimento after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Successful dribbles: 13. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
In brief
The dugoutGustavo Lobo has become a man the manager trusts
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.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Oliveirense spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
“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 dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Emanuel Moreira's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Afonso Nascimento, on a 3‑2 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Rafael Barbosa 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Kévin Zohi 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.
Nobody at Leixões will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Oliveirense in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. José Bica provided it, and the 8.42 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Rafael Barbosa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Kévin Zohi 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.
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.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Portimonense spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Leixões, another week without a signature from Emanuel Moreira.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Gustavo Lobo obliged against Vitoria Guimaraes. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Leixões.
0‑3 to Porto B, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 14 actions, 6.79, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Gustavo Lobo has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Leixões can pretend not to have heard.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Fernando Fonseca scored, was marked 7.56, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Raniel 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Kévin Zohi 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.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Raniel was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Leixões training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kévin Zohi 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. João Costa has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kévin Zohi. 2‑0 against Sporting CP B, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
A performance of 8.05 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Afonso Nascimento kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
14 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leixões this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Sporting CP B in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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 Rafael Santos is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Leixões. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leixões this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kévin Zohi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Felgueiras left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad5 Oct 2026
15 new faces, and Leixões are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
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 Fernando Fonseca is on it.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
Rafael Barbosa was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kévin Zohi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Afonso Nascimento after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Caio Secco trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Rafael Santos obliged against Oliveirense. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Leixões.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Hítalo has just signed for Leixões, and for once the answer mattered.
Rafael Barbosa 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Universitario Popayan have kept their man, and Leixões go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Marked 8.00 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Afonso Nascimento to a room that had heard them before.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Leixões can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kévin Zohi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Leixões asked and Braga said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Ikson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Afonso Nascimento to a room that had heard them before.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Leixões can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 18 signed and 32 gone
That is the business done at Leixões until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kévin Zohi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Leixões asked and Corinthians said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad7 Sep 2026
15 new faces, and Leixões are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Leixões are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Maritimo in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Leixões lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Leixões, and it is not being withdrawn.
Portimonense pay $400.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
The words a physio says slowly. 22 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Leixões asked and DAC Dunajska Streda said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is going to Casa Pia, the club has $1.6M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Leixões, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Raniel was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Leandro is living that version at Leixões, and it tends to show in the first month.
In brief
Transfer targetsNo deal for Rodrigo Guedes at that price
The words a physio says slowly. 29 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The offer from Sporting CP for Fernando Fonseca was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $122.4K — a club that wants Rodrigo Guedes enough to be asked twice.
$110.0K on the table at Académico de Viseu. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Gabriel Werner has, at Leixões, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Kévin Zohi from Torreense for $3.4M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Caio Secco
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Leixões lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Leixões have gone to Torreense with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rio Ave have kept their man, and Leixões go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Farense keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Rafael Barbosa was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Bernardo Carvalho is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Bernardo Lopes is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The words a physio says slowly. 44 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Leixões this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Leixões asked and Corinthians said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Leixões training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Benjamin Kanurić 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.