Vitória cruise into 3rd qualifying round of Conference League with 4-0 victory over Floriana

Vitória 4-0 Floriana (Aggregate: 5-0)

There is life after Jota! The day after Vitória’s star player was officially unveiled as a new Nottingham Forest player, a big crowd in Guimarães saw their side swat aside Maltese team Floriana thanks to four first-half goals to complete a 5-0 aggregate win.

Ricardo Mangas was the star of the show with two goals and an assist, Kaio César and Jorge Fernandes scoring the others. Tom Kundert reports on the action at the Dom Afonso Henriques stadium. 

Having brought a 1-0 advantage from Malta thanks to Jota Silva’s final goal for the club in the first leg last week, Vitória quickly put the tie to bed thanks to a whirlwind start.

Nuno Santos hit the woodwork in the 6th minute, but two minutes later and the home fans among the 20,101 crowd were celebrating as Kaio César launched himself at a sumptuous Mangas cross to score with a diving header.

Three minutes later Jorge Fernandes headed in a Tiago Silva corner to double the lead.

Unlike the match last week, Floriana were easy pickings for Vitória with Ricardo Mangas scoring two more goals shortly before the interval, the second a spectacular bicycle kick. 

“La Bicicleta” de Ricardo Mangas ????????#EspíritoDeVitória • #UECL • #VSCFFC pic.twitter.com/6ooKEl0mlH

— Vitória Sport Clube (@VitoriaSC1922) August 1, 2024

Mangas has played both as a left-back and a left winger in this career but new coach Rui Borges appears to have definitively decided the 26-year-old is more useful as an attacking player, and Jota’s departure could pave the way for the Algarve-born talent to flourish this season.

The second half was little more than a training ground exercise for Vitória with no further goals added.

The Vimaranenses face FC Zurich in the third qualifying round with the two legs scheduled for 8 and 15 August. To become the first Portuguese team to make the group stage of the UEFA Conference League Vitória must overcome the Swiss outfit then win a play-off.

Vitória SC (4-3-3): Bruno Varela; Bruno Gaspar, Jorge Fernandes, Borevkovic, João Mendes (Telmo Arcanjo, 77’); Tomás Handel (Manu, 75’), Tiago Silva, Nuno Santos (Samu, 65’); Kaio César (Bica, 75’), Ricardo Mangas, Chucho Ramirez (Nélson Oliveira, 64’)

Goals:

[1-0] Kaio César, 8’

[2-0] Jorge Fernandes, 11’

[3-0] Ricardo Mangas, 37’

[4-0] Ricardo Mangas, 43’

Related: Braga crush Maccabi Petah Tikva 5-0 to advance in the Europa League qualifiers

Related: Vitória kick off season with 1-0 win over Floriana in Malta