The 18-year-old striker gave the Lions victory over Amora, in the first round of Liga 3

Sporting B defeated Amora on Wednesday in what was the first round of the 2023/24 edition of LaLiga 3 which had some new faces in the Young Lions. Among them, Rafael Nel, the 18-year-old striker who last season managed to juggle development between the juniors and the under-23s, and this time he started the new season with ‘bês’ and … in full swing.

In his debut with the team coached by Felipe Chilekaya, Neil was decisive in scoring the only winning goal (1-0) over Amora, at the Aurelio Pereira Stadium, in the Academia de Alcochet, speaking to Channel 11, highlighting the special moment he lived in his life. Still a short career.

“It was a great moment! It’s always special to score on your debut. We are the youngest team in Liga 3 and that’s important for us to improve both players and men. Catching older teams is very good for growth”, admitted the 18-year-old forward , addressing the difficulty of facing opponents with different experience: “It’s always different for older people. We have a very young squad and it was very positive to win away from Amora. We managed to create many chances, we have a very competitive championship and a difficult season ahead.”

Rafael Neil was already optimistic with an eye on the next round against Sp. Covilhã, who has a further two-season contract with the Lions and is protected by a €45m clause. “Covilhã has experienced players, many of whom have a career in the second league. Which is good for them and for us. They have a lot of experience, but we are ready and we are not going to make it easy,” said the young striker who arrived in the green and white of Belenenses, this is already after he was In the initial stage of training in Benfica, and in this calendar year he has already played four competitions (Junior First Division, La Liga 3, Liga Revelcao and Youth League).

according to the log