Obrigado Lisboa!
A weekend in Portugal’s capital packed with sunshine, sightseeing, pastéis de nata, bifanas and obviously football!
Bom dia! 🇵🇹
I’m still in a Portuguese kind of mood, having spent last weekend in the capital city on a short pre-birthday trip with a friend, refreshing my memory of some places in one of my favourite cities as well as visiting some new ones too!
Unfortunately, my trip didn’t get off to the most auspicious start. Little more than a couple of hours into my bus journey, just after we had crossed into Extremadura, traffic ground to a halt. A lorry had crashed further up the road and while the road was cleared, there was no way through. Thankfully this was only a temporary delay and after about an hour, things were moving again, the driver even made up for some of the lost time.
Visiting Estrela da Amadora ⭐️
A couple of hours after arriving in Lisbon, a quick wash, a change of clothes and one Metro ride later, I was in the municipality of Amadora in the northwest of Lisbon, technically the fourth largest city in Portugal by population and birthplace of such footballing luminaries as Rui Costa, Nani, Rúben Dias and Renato Sanches.
The local club there is Estrela da Amadora, who were originally founded in 1932 but went bankrupt in 2011, only kept alive by supporters who formed Clube Desportivo Estrela as a way of keeping the youth teams and other sport sections of the club going. It took until 2018 for them to return to senior football in Lisbon’s regional leagues and only after a merger with a club based in Sintra in 2020, did they return to the national league system.
Tickets (€10 each) were bought online during the week leading up to the game and upon arriving at the ground we went straight inside. I’d not had a proper meal since breakfast, so I obviously went straight to the bar to purchase a bifana! Loaded with tender, well-marinated pork, it certainly hit the spot.
The Estádio José Gomes is a proper old-school ground, somewhat reminiscent of the Estadio de Vallecas in that it is three-sided and a bit rough around the edges but fortunately for us, unlike the Madrid venue, it currently has a pitch suitable for playing football.
Things didn’t get off to a very good start for the home side. A penalty conceded inside the first few minutes and converted by Tondela’s right back Bebeto. Perhaps it’s just my age (and my obvious Dépor bias) but it feels extremely wrong for there to be another Bebeto - and for him to be a journeyman right back at that. Tondela were second from bottom going into the weekend, but always looked the more coherent outfit in this game as Estrela toiled away, struggling to create many clear chances, despite having much more possession. Tondela made it count when they had the ball, scoring a second to kill the game on 75 minutes and a miserable evening for the hosts was completed with a late red card, having previously had one overturned by VAR.
The team sheet for the game was a veritable Who’s Who of relatives of better known/more successful players. The visitors featured Rodrigo Conceiçao, one of the many footballing sons of former Porto and Milan boss Sergio, Hugo Félix, younger brother of João and on the bench as an unused substitute was Lucas Cañizares, son of Sergio. Not be outdone, the hosts could boast Eddy Doué, cousin of PSG’s Désiré, and ploughing a lonely furrow up front, Sydney van Hooijdonk, son of Pierre.
Despite their side’s struggles on the field, the Estrela ultras behind the goal kept going for the full 90+ minutes. They, and their numerous Simpsons-inspired banners and stickers, certainly added plenty of colour and atmosphere to the game.
But for me, the real star (sorry, not sorry) of the night was the Estrela da Amadora mascot, a man with a star for a head, with the costume giving the overall impression that he’s a bit hunchbacked. He made the rounds of the pitch before the game and during half time, although sadly he didn’t make it to where we were sitting.
Visiting Benfica 🦅
Less than 24 hours later, it was off to the Estádio da Luz for the main event, SL Benfica v AVS Futebol SAD.
Very little has changed about the matchday experience since my previous visit to Lisbon in 2019. I will say that this time, the process of entering the ground was much smoother, the pre-match security checks were much more pleasant and the staff at the gates helpful in terms of making sure tickets get scanned quickly at the turnstiles to avoid queues building up.
Tickets were easily sourced online a couple of weeks in advance of the match, a pretty reasonable €30 for a seat high up behind the goal, though I imagine prices climb quite sharply for games against Sporting or Porto, or on a European night. That weekend’s opponents are not quite on that level.
AVS are rooted to the bottom of the league and only won their first game of the season the previous weekend, so José Mourinho did make several changes with one eye on their upcoming trip to the Bernabéu but notably the spine of the team remained intact, Trubin, Otamendi, Rafa Silva and Pavlidis. This proved enough to dispense with their opponents through three first half goals, the third a lovely rabona-style effort from Rafa, who had been one of the outstanding players when I came here in 2019.
The second half saw lots of substitutions and very little else of any real consequence. AVS barely laid a glove on their more illustrious opponents throughout the match and Benfica were content in the knowledge that their three-goal lead was more than enough for the victory. The home ultras did their best to keep a bit of atmosphere going throughout the last few minutes but things felt a bit flat overall, the fact this game fell between two huge Champions League ties probably didn’t help matters.
Eating well in Lisbon 🍽️
My bifana at Estrela da Amadora only whetted my appetite for more, so on Saturday morning, I paid a visit to As Bifanas do Afonso for another.
This was where I had the best bifana on my previous trip to Lisbon in 2019 and I’m absolutely delighted to say that it still measures up. The little kiosk only accepts cash payments and it’s in a little square at the top of a reasonably steep hill, but it’s definitely worth the effort to visit.
Then on Saturday evening after the game, we went to Lisbon’s famous Chinés Clandestino, a hidden gem which has become a bit more well-known since 2019 - it even appears on online maps now, I remember having a dreadful time trying to find it on my previous visit. On that particular occasion I had their Sweet and Sour Pork and it was so good it has lived rent-free in my head ever since. These days they have posters up around the place boasting it is Lisbon’s best Sweet and Sour Pork - I’m not going to argue!
Our entire meal, spring rolls, dumplings, two main courses with rice and drinks, came to around €35 - a brilliant price for the quality and quantity of the food we received.
Of course, it simply wouldn’t be a trip to Lisbon without a Pastel de Nata - or several! The hotel we were staying in was located near one of the main branches of Manteigaria - one of the largest (and best) chains producing them in the city - so I paid them a visit just before leaving on Sunday. The queues outside there on Friday and Saturday were too long to even contemplate waiting in, so we tried a couple of other locations first. Alas, there was no time for a trip to Pastéis de Belém, the birthplace of the iconic sweet treat.
Hopefully it won’t be close to seven years before I return to Lisbon again, and next time, possibly even stay a little bit longer.