This is Vasco's debut Serie A fixture and one they will see as very winnable and be "going for" with three very tough looking fixtures to follow over the next 10 days.

 

Sport opened with a 3-2 defeat of Ceara on Saturday ahead of which my notes included..........

 

 

 

 

 

Last Wednesday Donetsk hosted Wolfsburg and I wrote ...............

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SPAL visited a Verona side in midweek who had achieved all their targets for the season , had not won in 7, or kept a clean sheet in 12 and who were already mentally lying on a beach somewhere, and yet they lost 3-0. They were two down after 11 minutes, conceded the third early in the second half and SPAL did nothing to change the opinion that they had waved the white flag on the 19-20 campaign , ahead of that game I noted .......

 

 

 

 

Kawasaki Frontale    +59 (92-33) 25-4

Gamba Osaka          +1 ( 59-58) 11-9

*Nagoya Grampus     -2  (39-41)  10-4

FC Tokyo                  -10 (48-58) 17-14

 

 

The last ever competitive game was played at Griffin Park last night, it has been the home of Brentford FC since 1904 and my family home aside, the single venue I have spent the most time in and around and it holds so many memories for me, many happy, some sad, all unforgettable . What a special place it has been, especially under the floodlights and with a sound all of its own, I can't explain that, but pre kick off GP sounds like no other ground and I cannot believe I am not going to see or hear the old place again.