Larrazabal’s Early Brace Guides Casa Pia Past Ançã and Into Taça de Portugal’s Next Round
On a cool October evening in Portugal, the gulf between the country's elite and its hopefuls manifested with commanding clarity. Casa Pia, riding the ebbs and flows of mid-table life in the Primeira Liga, arrived at the unknown home of Ançã—unheralded, undaunted—but in need of a reset after a string of winless outings. For Ançã, the fixture represented the promise of cup magic; for Casa Pia, a chance to reassert their credentials in a knockout format.
It took only ten minutes for that difference in pedigree to reveal itself. Gaizka Larrazabal, the Spanish winger whose role in Casa Pia’s season has steadily broadened, delivered an opener marked by poise and precision. Latching onto a pass just inside the right channel, Larrazabal skipped past his marker with one deft touch and slipped the ball low past Ançã’s scrambling keeper. The roar from the modest visiting contingent underscored a simple fact: Casa Pia meant business.
Ançã, to their credit, did not shrink from the challenge. Their midfield pressed high, seeking to disrupt Casa Pia’s rhythm and force errors. For a brief spell midway through the half, hope flickered. A looping cross from the right nearly found the head of their talismanic striker, but Casa Pia’s defense—anchored by Kaique Rocha, fresh from his recent scoring exploits—stood tall. The visitors suffocated Ançã’s forays, content to probe and pounce when an opening appeared.
As halftime approached, Casa Pia’s superiority crystallized. In the 45th minute, Larrazabal struck again, this time finishing off a sweeping move that began deep in his own half. A quick exchange of passes through midfield found Jérémy Livolant, who surveyed the field and played a perfectly weighted ball to Larrazabal. The winger’s finish—angled, unerring, clinical—left Ançã’s hopes teetering on the brink. With the whistle for the break, the contest felt closer to conclusion than renewal.
For all Casa Pia’s composed approach, the match’s tempo slackened in the second half. Ançã’s legs grew heavy, perhaps burdened both by the deficit and the rarefied company. Casa Pia, sensing their job was nearly done, rotated possession, stretching the hosts and reducing the final forty-five minutes to an exercise in patience. The best of the opportunities still fell their way: a rising drive from Livolant forced a sprawling save, while Cassiano nodded over from six yards.
Yet, if any doubt lingered, it evaporated on the cusp of full-time. A scramble in the box saw Casa Pia’s pressure finally break through Ançã’s last resistance. The ball ricocheted, bodies tangled, and a substitute, whose name was lost to the chaos of the moment, bundled the ball home for the third. The scoreboard confirmed what the run of play had long suggested: Casa Pia, 3; Ançã, 0. The dreams of a shock had been methodically extinguished.
For Casa Pia, the result offers a salve after recent frustrations in league play—a run of just one win from five, including a bruising defeat to Moreirense and a pair of dispiriting draws. The cup, though, offers its own opportunities. Progression is both a statement and a necessity, given the demands of a campaign perched on the fine margins of top-flight survival and cup ambition. As for Larrazabal, his brace was not simply a statistical footnote. It was a timely reminder of Casa Pia’s attacking potential and the depth that manager Filipe Martins can summon when the stakes demand.
Ançã, so spirited in their triumph over Vinhais last month, exit the competition with heads held high. Their defense bent—often creaking under Casa Pia’s sustained and organized pressure—but seldom broke until fatigue and fate coalesced in the closing seconds. For a side unaccustomed to such heights, this campaign was always destined to be a learning curve, a litmus test for ambition in the lower tiers.
There remains the sense that Casa Pia’s season is poised on a knife-edge. Cup progress breeds confidence, but the true measure will be whether this performance becomes a catalyst for league resurgence. Ançã return to their domestic routines, chastened but not discouraged, their cup run serving as both a memory and a motivator for the journey ahead.
In the Taça de Portugal, the margins are thin but the narratives perennial: Goliath advances, but David departs with dignity. For Casa Pia, the road is open, the challenge relit. For Ançã, the story pauses, awaiting the next page.