United hit the woodwork three times, through John Egan, debutant Anis Slimane and striker Will Osula, as Paul Heckingbottom again fielded different sides in both halves, with Slimane and Iliman Ndiaye catching the eye in particular.
Here’s how we rated United’s players on the night...
The Star’s coverage of Sheffield United’s pre-season trip to Portugal is in association with Vertical Editions, a Sheffield-based company producing fine sporting books. Check out their range of Blades titles, including the new book Legends at the Lane, at www.verticaleditions.com
17. Max Lowe 6
Got forward and his eyes will have lit up when Norwood’s teasing cross gave him space to attack it, but he couldn’t quite get it on target | Sheffield United
18. Oliver Norwood 6
Picked out Baldock’s run in behind with a lovely pass that Baldock took down nicely but saw the defender recover to dispossess him. A lovely cross caused havoc in the Estoril box and led to Egan hitting a post | Sheffield United
19. Anis Slimane 7
Made his delayed debut in Blades colours after missing out at Chesterfield and showed promising early signs with a nice link-up with Baldock down the Blades right which led to a chance. Almost capped his debut with a stunner from long range but his effort clipped the crossbar, with the goalkeeper nowhere | Sheffield United
20. Sander Berge 6.5
A lovely scooped ball set Osula free - or looked to have - before the linesman’s flag ruled out the goal but then moments later was not strong enough in the tackle which allowed Estoril to break and nearly score, Foderingham excelling to keep the ball out. | Sheffield United