Naoufel Khacef sees red as nine-man Tondela crumble at Nacional

Naoufel Khacef was sent off in Tondela’s 2-0 loss to Nacional in Sunday’s Portuguese Primeira Liga showdown.

The former Algeria U23 defender was brought on as a replacement for Portuguese forward Salvador Agra in the 72nd minute, but he was given his marching orders 18 minutes later by referee Joao Bento.

The Gold and Greens’ ambition of claiming an away victory at Estadio da Madeira had suffered a massive setback after Brazil’s Bebeto was shown the way out in the first-half.

Ruben Micael put the hosts ahead in the first minute after beating Senegalese goalkeeper Babacar Niasse from close range thanks to an assist from Joao Vigario.

In the 68th minute, Brayan Riascos completed the triumph to help Luis Freire’s men to their third triumph of the 2020-21 campaign.

Struggling Tondela remain winless in their last four games across all competitions with their last victory a 1-0 away result versus Felgueiras 1932 in Taca de Portugal.

While Niasse was in action from start to finish, Guinea Bissau's Joao Mendes was brought on for Mario Gonzalez with 12 minutes left to play, while Algeria international who is on loan from Bordeaux, Abdel Medioub, was thrown into the fray for Yohan Tavares early in the second half.

Mauritania's Souleymane Anne saw every minute of action whereas Cape Verde's Telmo Arcanjo was not listed for the encounter by manager Francisco Ayestaran.

For Nacional, Tunisia's Larry Azouni was in action from start to finish with Cape Verde's Nuno Borges coming off for Nigeria's Abdullahi Alhassan in the 46th minute. Elsewhere, Mozambique’s Witi was not dressed for action.

Thanks to this result, the Nationalists, who now boasts of 13 points from 11 games, have now moved up to seventh on the log, while Tondela moved southward with just nine points from the same number of games to stay 17th.

Khacef will be missing in action when his team welcomes Famalicao to Estadio Joao Cardoso on January 3 as they aim to end their miserable run.

For Nacional, they travel to Estadio D. Afonso Henriques for a date with Vitoria de Guimaraes.

The Conquerors boast of Nigeria's Mikel Agu, South Africa's Lyle Foster, Ghana's quartet of Abdul Mumin, Gideon Mensah, Joseph Amoah, and Alhassan Wakaso, Mali's Gideon Mensah and Burkina Faso's Abou Ouattara.