Leixoes hoping to make it big

TEAMtalk contributor Jonathan Rest looks at the impact Leixoes are having in Portugal and feels they are a breath of fresh air in Portugal.

The 'Big Four' has become an all-too-familiar term in the English Premiership.

The financial security offered by Champions League football has made that elite group almost untouchable domestically, leaving the remaining 16 teams to fight it out to be 'best of the rest'.

But to describe the dominance associated with our Portuguese counterparts would require an adjective of greater weight: huge maybe, though more appropriate would be colossal - 'The Colossal Three' to be precise.

Now into its 74th year, the Liga Sagres has been dominated by Benfica, FC Porto and Sporting Lisbon - 71 titles between them - with only Belenenses in 1946 and Boavista in 2001 having successfully 'borrowed' the trophy.

But nine games into this season, there is an infiltrator in the camp - the much unfancied and, certainly outside of Portugal, unknown Leixoes.

To erect a trophy cabinet at the Estadio do Mar would be a waste of craftsmanship, a simple shelf would be more than suffice - the Portuguese Cup in 1961, the Second Division title in 2003 and the Liga de Honra title (one below the top flight) in 2007 the only success in their 101-year history.

Indeed that last silverware saw the side return to Portugal's top division for the first time in 18 years.

And yet just 18 months on, the club find themselves top of the tree, taking 23 points from a possible 30, two ahead of Benfica, who have a game in hand, while Sporting and Porto sit fourth and sixth respectively.

What's more, Leixoes have come out of their battles with 'The Colossal Three' unscathed - a draw at home to Benfica followed by shock victories at both Porto (3-2) and Sporting (1-0).

So what is the successful formula for a side that finished a lowly 14th last season?

How refreshing that it isn't money. Little has been spent on new arrivals, with new coach Jose Mota using the loan system to bring in Celta Vigo's Brazilian midfielder Roberto Sousa and Porto winger Diogo Valente.

One difference has been the introduction of Wesley.

The Brazilian striker, 28, followed coach Mota from FC Paços de Ferreira to north Portugal in the summer and has been a revelation, topping Leixoes' and the league's goalscoring charts with six strikes.

But in reality the likes of Wesley and Valente are not even household names in the most die-hard of Portuguese footballing families.

Only Udo Nwoko and Brandon Poltronieri from the Leixoes senior squad can lay claim to full international caps, and even then it is only in the colours of Malta and Costa Rica respectively.

Yet while money hasn't played a role in Leixoes' ascent, how cruel that it may well be the pin to burst their title bubble.

The cliche that while the rich get richer, the poor get poorer has, unfortunately, not been lost in Portugal.

Porto and Sporting's passage into the latter stages of the Champions League will swell their coffers for January but, as for so many clubs, the turbulent financial markets have put the future of key assets at Estadio do Mar at risk.

Wesley, for one, is primed for a lucrative move to Dubai's Al-Wahda club, which although handing Leixoes a much-needed cash injection, will severely dent title hopes.

So long as money continues to talk in football, it seems Portugal's 'Colossal Three' won't be adding to their number anytime soon.