Aston Villa had a good reason to pay attention to both sides of Sunday’s clássico, with scouts watching Porto beat Benfica 3-1 at the Dragão.
Monday’s print edition of A Bola has Villa on the list of clubs represented in the stands.
Some of the players involved already have a history with the Birmingham club. Others simply produced the sort of performances that should have kept the scouts busy.
Familiar faces on the Benfica side
Starting with the visitors, we know Aston Villa have been linked with Vangelos Pavlidis this summer, and his start to this season makes another look pretty easy to understand.
The Benfica striker went into the Porto game with eight goals from seven league appearances. There was no ninth on Sunday. Even so, Pavlidis kept Porto’s centre-backs occupied and had to do much of his work in difficult circumstances… because of Clément Lenglet.
Benfica were reduced to ten men after only 35 minutes after the former Aston Villa defender was booked after 25 minutes and picked up another yellow ten minutes later. That left his teammates facing Porto with ten men for most of the game.
João Palhinha knows all about Villa interest too. They wanted him during the summer, only for the midfielder to end up at Benfica instead.
Palhinha, however, was among the best Benfica players at the Dragão. Once his side went down to ten, he worked hard to stop Porto taking complete control. He kept showing for the ball, battled through plenty of duels and helped Benfica stay in the game for as long as they did.
Also, Gianluca Prestianni probably gave Villa’s scouts something to think about. The 20-year-old was dangerous coming in from the left and kept trying to make things happen even after the red card. His best moment produced Benfica’s only goal.
| Every Aston Villa signing 26/27 | Nationality | Previous Club | Fee | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nicolas Jackson | Senegal | Chelsea | £65m | |
| Johan Manzambi | Switzerland | Freiburg | £59.5m | |
| Ibrahim Mbaye | Senegal | PSG | £47m | |
| Joao Gomes | Brazil | Wolves | £38m | |
| Zion Suzuki | Japan | Parma | £30m | |
| Taylor Harwood-Bellis | England | Southampton | £29m | |
| Matteo Ruggeri | Italy | Atletico Madrid | £17m | |
| Modou Keba Cisse | Senegal | LASK | £4.3m | |
| Leon Goretzka | Germany | Bayern Munich | Free | |
| Alejandro Garnacho | Argentina | Chelsea | Loan | |
| Aaron Wan-Bissaka | DR Congo | West Ham | Loan |
A few new names to scribble down
If Villa arrived with Pavlidis or even Palhinha in mind, Victor Froholdt did a pretty good job of demanding some attention for himself. The 20-year-old was the game’s standout performer.
Back in the team after a concussion, Froholdt brought energy and physicality to Porto’s midfield.
Gabri Veiga made his case in a different way. Despite playing only one half, the Spaniard found spaces around Benfica’s midfield and timed his run perfectly for the opening goal. At 24, he’s still young and offers plenty technically. He’s also been delivering consistently for Porto.
Alberto Costa was another young Porto player on show that could be interesting for Villa. The right-back started and got another high-level derby under his belt.
That’s the fun of having scouts at games like this, though. Villa already had a couple of known quantities to check on, and several others made sure they didn’t leave with an empty notebook.
