# 2020–21 Rio Ave F.C. season

The 2020–21 season was the 82nd season in existence of Rio Ave Futebol Clube and the club's 13th consecutive season in the top flight of Portuguese football. In addition to the domestic league, Rio Ave participated in this season's editions of the Taça de Portugal, and the UEFA Europa League. The season covered the period from July 2020 to 30 June 2021.

## Players
### First-team squad

    As of 3 February 2021
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | POL | Paweł Kieszek |
| 4 | DF | POR | Nélson Monte |
| 5 | MF | BRA | Filipe Augusto |
| 6 | DF | CRO | Toni Borevković |
| 7 | FW | ANG | Gelson Dala |
| 8 | MF | POR | Tarantini (captain) |
| 9 | FW | BRA | Júnior Brandão (on loan from Ludogorets) |
| 10 | FW | ANG | Anderson Cruz |
| 11 | MF | POR | Francisco Geraldes |
| 12 | DF | BRA | Júnio |
| 16 | MF | POR | Guga |
| 17 | DF | POR | Fábio Coentrão |
| 18 | MF | GNB | Pelé (on loan from Monaco) |
| 19 | FW | BRA | Ronan |
| 20 | DF | POR | Costinha |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 21 | FW | POR | Carlos Mané |
| 22 | GK | BRA | Léo |
| 23 | MF | CRO | Nikola Jambor |
| 24 | DF | POR | Pedro Amaral |
| 25 | DF | POR | Ivo Pinto |
| 28 | DF | NZL | Nando Pijnaker |
| 33 | DF | BRA | Aderllan Santos |
| 36 | DF | BRA | Sávio |
| 40 | MF | JPN | Ryotaro Meshino (on loan from Manchester City) |
| 45 | FW | BRA | Leandro Silva |
| 64 | FW | POR | Rafael Camacho (on loan from Sporting CP) |
| 70 | FW | BRA | Gabrielzinho |
| 74 | GK | BRA | Magrão |
| 77 | FW | POR | André Pereira |

### Other players under contract

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 37 | FW | POR | Manuel Namora |
| 80 | MF | POR | Diogo Teixeira |
| 89 | FW | GHA | Said Ahmed Said |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 91 | MF | POR | Nuno Silva |
| 92 | DF | POR | Luca |

### Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | GK | POR | Carlos Alves (at Trofense until 30 June 2021) |
| — | DF | BRA | Matheus Reis (at Sporting CP until 30 June 2021) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | MF | POR | Rúben Gonçalves (at Vilafranquense until 30 June 2021) |

## Pre-season and friendlies

Win  Draw  Loss

## Competitions
### Overview

| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record |
| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
| Primeira Liga | 20 September 2020 | 19 May 2021 | Matchday 1 | 16th | 34 | 7 | 13 | 14 | 25 | 40 | −15 | 020.59 |
| Primeira Liga relegation play-offs | 26 May 2021 | 30 May 2021 | First leg | Second leg | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | −5 | 000.00 |
| Taça de Portugal | 22 November 2020 | 12 January 2021 | Third round | Fifth round | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 4 | +1 | 066.67 |
| Europa League | 17 September 2020 | 1 October 2020 | Second qualifying round | Play-off round | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 033.33 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 42 | 10 | 15 | 17 | 35 | 52 | −17 | 023.81 |
Source: Soccerway

### Primeira Liga
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 14 | Portimonense | 34 | 9 | 8 | 17 | 34 | 41 | −7 | 35 | |
| 15 | Marítimo | 34 | 10 | 5 | 19 | 27 | 47 | −20 | 35 | |
| 16 | Rio Ave (R) | 34 | 7 | 13 | 14 | 25 | 40 | −15 | 34 | Qualification for the Relegation play-offs |
| 17 | Farense (R) | 34 | 7 | 10 | 17 | 31 | 48 | −17 | 31 | Relegation to Liga Portugal 2 |
| 18 | Nacional (R) | 34 | 6 | 7 | 21 | 30 | 59 | −29 | 25 | Relegation to Liga Portugal 2 |
* 1 2 Portimonense are ranked ahead of Marítimo on head-to-head points: Portimonense 4, Marítimo 1.

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Source: Liga Portugal

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 |
| Ground | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A |
| Result | D | D | D | L | W | W | D | L | D | L | L | L | W | D | L | L | D | W | W | L | L | W | D | D | L | D | D | L | D | D | L | L | L | W |
| Position | 10 | 11 | 13 | 16 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 13 | 16 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 14 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 11 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 11 | 11 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 17 | 16 |

#### Matches

The league fixtures were announced on 28 August 2020.

#### Relegation play-offs
### UEFA Europa League
## Statistics
### Goalscorers

    As of 6 November 2020
| Rank | No. | Pos | Nat | Name | Primeira Liga | Taça de Portugal | Taça da Liga | Europa League | Total |
| 1 | 14 | MF | | Lucas Piazon | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 2 | 33 | DF | | Aderlan Santos | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 2 | 8 | MF | | Tarantini | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 11 | MF | | Francisco Geraldes | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 23 | MF | | Nikola Jambor | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 40 | MF | | Ryotaro Meshino | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 2 | 7 | FW | | Gelson | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 9 | FW | | Bruno Moreira | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 21 | FW | | Carlos Mané | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | Totals | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 10 |