Rio Ave Vs Famalicao

Rio Ave will welcome Famalicao to the Estadio do Rio Ave Futebol Clube on Friday evening for matchday eight of the 2024-25 Primeira Liga season.

Currently, Rio Ave sit in 12th place with seven points from seven matches, while Famalicao occupy 7th position, having collected 12 points from their first seven fixtures.

Match Preview

Since their promotion to the Primeira Liga as Liga Portugal 2 champions in the 2021-22 season, Rio Ave have managed to secure mid-table finishes, placing 12th in the 2022-23 season and improving slightly to 11th last season. However, despite this apparent progress, Rio Ave found themselves closer to the relegation zone in the 2023-24 campaign, finishing just five points above the relegation playoff spot, compared to the more comfortable 14-point gap the season before.

This slip was primarily due to Rio Ave's tendency to draw games, as they finished with 19 draws in 34 matches last season, the highest in the league by a significant margin (seven more than the next highest). Most of these draws came towards the end of the season, with Rio Ave going unbeaten in their last 12 games—though 10 of those ended in stalemates.

Heading into the 2024-25 season, head coach Luis Freire would have aimed to transform those draws into wins to push the team up the table. However, the opposite has happened so far, with Rio Ave losing four of their first seven matches. They now find themselves winless in their last three outings, suffering two defeats and managing one draw. Freire will be eager to break that winless streak this Friday.

Famalicao, on the other hand, may offer Rio Ave the chance to get back on track. The visitors have also struggled in recent games, failing to win any of their last four matches. Famalicao started the season strongly, recording three consecutive wins while keeping clean sheets in all of them. However, head coach Armando Evangelista will be concerned with his side’s inability to secure a victory in their subsequent four fixtures.

Of particular note is Famalicao's recent scoring drought, as they have failed to find the back of the net in their last two games, drawing 0-0 with both Moreirense and Nacional. Nonetheless, they will hope to end that goalless run against a Rio Ave side that has conceded 12 goals, the second-highest in the league this season.

Despite their recent struggles, Famalicao still sit in seventh place and have aspirations of finishing higher than eighth, where they have ended up in each of the last three seasons. Evangelista, while frustrated with recent results, can take comfort in the team’s solid start overall this season.