Arouca vs Estrela 1-0

Arouca beat Estrela 1-0 through Iván Barbero’s early finish. That goal in the fifth minute settled the match, with Estrela unable to turn pressure into an equaliser after Ianis Stoica missed a penalty before half-time.

Barbero opened the scoring in the fifth minute after Näis Djouahra set him up, and Arouca led 1-0. Estrela had a chance to level in first-half stoppage time, but Ianis Stoica missed from the spot in the 45+4th minute. The half-time score was Arouca 1-0 Estrela.

The second half stayed tight. Arouca took off Pablo Gozálbez in the 57th minute, then replaced the scorer Barbero and Näis Djouahra in the 65th minute, while Estrela answered with changes for Ianis Stoica and Max Scholze. Neither side added another goal, and Estrela’s late double substitution in the 90+1st minute came too late to alter the result.

Estrela had 63% of the ball and made 573 passes to Arouca’s 342, but Arouca still had the cleaner numbers in front of goal with 3 shots on target to Estrela’s 2. Estrela had 11 shots to Arouca’s 7 and a slightly higher xG at 1.48 to 0.78, while corners finished 6-5 and saves 2-2.

Arouca were booked five times, with Pablo Gozálbez, Iván Barbero, Pedro Santos, Taichi Fukui and Jose Fontán all going into the book. Estrela had two cautions, for Abraham Marcus and Max Scholze. There were no red cards.