Portuguese Abroad goals round-up: Bernardo Silva golaço; Nuno Tavares goal streak continues; Gil Dias lights up Bundesliga | OneFootball

The protagonists in our latest round-up have plenty in common: left-footed; former Benfica players; all scored superb goals for their clubs over the weekend. Bernardo Silva leads the way with a fantastic strike for Manchester City in the Premier League, followed by Nuno Tavares getting yet another Ligue 1 goal for Marseille and Gil Dias continuing to make waves in Germany.

Elsewhere, there were goals for Josué in Poland with Legia Warsaw, Francisco Conceição with Ajax’s B team in the Netherlands second tier, as well as Ruben Rodrigues pushing for promotion to the football league in England’s National League.

Bernardo Silva ended his goal drought with Manchester City by scoring a stunning long-range effort in their match against Nottingham Forest on Saturday. Bernardo had not scored for the English champions since October, but got himself back on the scoresheet in spectacular fashion to open the scoring five minutes before half time.

Jack Grealish laid the ball off to Bernardo outside the penalty area and the Seleção man connected with a brilliant left-footed effort on the outside of his boot, sending his shot into the roof of the Forest net. The goal put the visitors 1-0 up, although despite dominating much of the game City were pegged back by an 84th-minute Chris Wood equaliser and had to settle for a point.

Bernardo’s goal came at the end of an interesting week for the former Benfica man, who has been deployed at left-back by manager Pep Guardiola in recent games, while his long-term future at City has again been questioned. Speaking to the media in midweek, Guardiola had nothing but praise for his Portugal international.

“He’s a key player, so important on and off the pitch,” said the Spaniard of Bernardo. “A guy who can talk, always a nice conversation, always you learn about his humanity, his vision for the club. He’s an incredible player against top sides, incredibly reliable in decisive games he’s always there. Nothing changed about his future, it belongs to him."

Nuno Tavares helps Marseille keep on PSG trail

Marseille gave a statement of intent in their title aspirations in France by coming from behind to win 3-2 at Toulouse on Sunday evening. Ligue 1’s second-place side trailed 1-0 at half time, but three goals after the interval saw Igor Tudor’s men record a victory, sealed by what proved a winner by Portuguese wing-back Nuno Tavares.

Thijs Dallinga put Toulouse in front inside three minutes, but former Porto defender Chancel Mbemba drew the sides level (52’) and Turkish forward Cengiz Under put Marseille in control with a brilliant volley shortly after. Ex-Benfica man Tavares put the visitors 3-1 up with a low finish from an acute angle, with Ado Onaiwu’s late reply for Toulouse a mere consolation.

Tavares, who is on-loan from Arsenal, now has an impressive six league goals for Marseille this season. Prior to the switch last summer, the 23-year-old had only scored twice in senior league football for Benfica and the Gunners. Marseille are now just five points behind leaders and arch rivals PSG, whom they host next week in a huge clash at the Velodrome.

Dias shining early in Germany

Winger Gil Dias is enjoying a positive start to life at new club VFB Stuttgart in Germany. The January signing from Benfica has two goals in three starts with The Reds, following a nicely-worked opener in their 3-0 home victory over Koln at the weekend.

Dias, who cost just €1m from Benfica at the end of the winter transfer window, had previously scored on his debut in the German Cup earlier this month. On Saturday, Dias made his full home Bundesliga debut against Koln and put his team 1-0 up inside ten minutes with a classy finish, following a nice one-two with fellow recent acquisition Genki Haraguchi.

The win was Stuttgart’s first in the Bundesliga since November and lifted them out of the relegation zone and into 14th place. Fellow Portuguese Tiago Tomas is also in the Stuttgart ranks, although reports in Germany suggest the forward will likely head back to parent club Sporting in the summer as his loan deal is unlikely to be made permanent.

The rest: Josué, Ruben Rodrigues on target

Former Portugal international Josué could be in line for the best goalscoring season of his career, after his penalty earned Legia Warsaw a 1-0 win at Piast Gliwice in Poland. The goal was the midfielder’s 7th in the Ekstraklasa, putting Josué close to his career-best tally of nine, scored with Hapoel Be’er Sheva in Israel two years ago.

Francisco Conceição helped his cause for a place in Ajax’s first team by scoring for the club’s reserve team in the Dutch second tier. Conceição grabbed the second for Ajax II in a 4-2 victory over MVV in Amsterdam. In neighbouring Belgium, defender João Silva scored for Kortrijk as they held Anderlecht 2-2 in the First Division A.

Notts County, the world’s oldest professional football club, remain on track for promotion to the English football league. Portuguese attacking midfielder Ruben Rodrigues was among the scorers in a 4-1 win at Yeovil which keeps County five points clear at the top of the National League – the fifth tier in England.

Ex-Benfica academy prospect Zé Gomes scored in Romania for Universitatea Cluj in a 2-2 draw away at Chindia Targoviste. In Israel, ex-Sporting defender André Geraldes scored the winner for Maccabi Tel Aviv in a 1-0 victory over Hapoel Be’er Sheva. Meanwhile in Cyprus, Luís Silva scored for Enosis in a 1-1 draw at Karmiotissa.

Finally in Asia, former Portimonense forward Ayrton Boa Morte scored a dramatic 89th-minute winner to give Khorfakkan a 1-0 victory over Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates Pro League, while in Vietnam there was a goal for Braga-born striker Muacir for Sanna Khanh Hoa in a 2-2 home draw with Song Lam Nghe An.