TugaScout is an English-language site reporting on matters associated with Portuguese football by freelance writer Alex Goncalves, offering the latest news, reviews and opinions surrounding the Portuguese League and the Seleção players based abroad.

The Spanish minnows with a Portuguese goalkeeper leading the way in La Liga

The Spanish minnows with a Portuguese goalkeeper leading the way in La Liga

It may still be early days in the footballing season, but already this year's Spanish La Liga is proving to be a fascinating one.

With both traditional heavyweights Real Madrid and Barcelona faltering, the title race looks more open than we've seen in years, perhaps decades.

The latter in particular have endured a testing campaign, and their latest result has left them with just 7 points from their opening 5 matches, dropping more points than they have actually earned in the process.

For their opponents, though, their stunning 2-0 victory over the Spanish giants on Saturday has seen them soar to the top of the table, above Atletico Madrid on goal difference. Safe to say that newly-promoted Granada are having a season to remember.

Facing a side in Barcelona boasting the likes of Antoine Griezman and Luis Suarez up front, many Granada fans would have been anticipating defeat to bring their excellent start to the season to an end.

In the end, though, not only did they manage to earn victory over the reigning Spanish champions, maintaining their unbeaten run since returning to the Spanish top flight, but they actually managed to keep a clean sheet in the process, no doubt in part thanks to the efforts of one certain Portuguese goalkeeper - Rui Silva.

The 25-year old shot-stopper is certainly not a household name amongst the footballing community - some fans of the Portugal national team may even struggle to recall who the one-time Portugal U21 international actually is - but he has certainly started to make a name for himself in Spanish football.

Last season, he played 40 of Granada's 42 LaLiga2 matches as they finished 2nd in the standings, earning his side promotion back to the top flight, having been relegated in 2017.

In that most recent season, he kept an impressive 18 clean sheets in the league, very much establishing himself as a key player in the side.

And his growing footballing credentials were on show against one of the world's greatest clubs this weekend, where he showed great composure and command of his box to help lead Granada to victory, giving them 10 points from their opening 5 games and, with it, top spot in their domestic league.

You may expect a goalkeeper facing Barcelona to have a very busy day, yet Silva was actually barely tested, with Barcelona not having a shot on target of note throughout the entire game.

That's not to say that Silva didn't contribute to his side's victory though, catching practically every ball that was hopefully whipped into the box and proving an incredible presence to break up any Barcelona attack.

Also in the side, and playing the full 90 minutes against Barcelona, was former Sporting centreback Domingos Duarte. His heroics in the centre of defence were regularly on show, and really did play a vital role in giving Granada a memorable victory, as well as giving Silva a surprisingly easy day in the office.

Duarte was also involved in the goalscoring action, his long ball leading to the opening goal for Granada early on.

Both players will be delighted with how this season has begun - and if they keep this up, they could well be expecting a call from a certain Fernando Santos in the not too distant future.

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