A top-tier Portuguese football club faces immediate pressure and internal discord after a shocking national cup exit to a lower-division team. Estrela da Amadora, a club in Portugal’s top-flight Primeira Liga, suffered a humiliating 1-3 defeat to fourth-tier club Alpendorada in the third round of the Portuguese Cup.
The upset has left the club’s base in Lisbon’s metropolitan area with a “heavy” mood and “enormous disappointment.”
Club president Paulo Lopo immediately addressed the defeat, stressing that the team’s focus would now shift entirely to the Primeira Liga. Their primary objective in the league is to avoid relegation.
Lopo expressed “total confidence” in coach João Nuno and the squad. He attributed some of the performance issues to “many players returning from injuries.”
“Cup is always Cup and we already know that anything can happen,” Lopo told Record newspaper. He acknowledged the widespread dissatisfaction. “Obviously, I was not satisfied with what happened, and I understand our fans were not either.”
In stark contrast, coach João Nuno publicly expressed profound embarrassment over the loss. He stated the team “shamed a club with a giant history in the Portuguese Cup.”
Nuno criticized his players’ performance against the lower-division opponent. “We were not up to representing this symbol, and the team with more desire won,” he said. “On one side there were 11 guys with more desire than our team.”
Estrela da Amadora’s next challenge is a league match on Saturday at Estádio José Gomes against Rio Ave. Ironically, Rio Ave also experienced a significant cup upset, losing 2-3 to fourth-tier Sintrense.