João Félix: the Portuguese player with more gunpowder

In any team in the world, a striker's performance is measured by the goals he scores, the assists he provides to his teammates and, among other parameters, bu how much he runs and sweats for the squad. In Portugal, the facts prove it: in the Liga NOS, on other Portuguese player had as much gunpowder as João Félix in the last two and a half months.

The streak of consecutive matches as a starter in the Championship rose to 11 in the recent trip to Moreira de Cónegos and began on January 6, against Rio Ave, at Estádio da Luz, in what was the first match of the Reds under Bruno Lage. In the home match against the “vila-condenses”, João Félix scored twice. It was his first brace with the Sacred Mantle.

To those two goals, the Eagles' number 79 joined six additional strikes in the 10 Championship matches that followed. Within the two and a half months under scrutiny, João Félix has completed almost 1000 minutes in the Portuguese main competition and scored eight times. No other Portuguese player did the same or better than him.

Very active in Benfica’s offensive line, which, with 72 goals in 26 rounds, is the most effective team in Liga NOS, João Félix, in addition to the brace against Rio Ave, also scored against Boavista, Sporting, Nacional, Chaves, FC Porto and Moreirense.

Before those eight goals in 11 games, João Félix,who had an uneven participation in the team until January 6, had scored twice in the Championship, at home against Sporting and Aves.

Indeed, with this performance, João Félix is the second best scorer in the League, sharing the position with Jonas and Rafa, all with ten goals. The top scorer is another benfiquista, the Swiss international  Seferovic (15 goals, 11 of which under Bruno Lage’s command).

In the last two and a half months, since the arrival of Bruno Lage who started to include him in the starting XI on a regular basis, João Félix also turned into an assist maker, completing three successful passes. Between goals and assists, the U21 Portuguese international had straight participation in 11 goals in Liga NOS.

Text: João Sanches

Pics: João Paulo Trindade / SL Benfica