Learn Portuguese (Portugal): A equipa atacou melhor depois do intervalo. - The team attacked better after the break.

In Portuguese, collective nouns like equipa (team) or grupo (group) are grammatically singular. Unlike in English where a collective noun can sometimes take a plural verb, Portuguese strictly requires the third-person singular, which is why we use atacou instead of the plural atacaram.

Is melhor functioning as an adjective or an adverb in this sentence?

Here, it acts as an adverb meaning better because it modifies the verb atacou to describe how they attacked. Melhor is the irregular comparative form for both the adjective bom (good) and the adverb bem (well). If it were an adjective, it would modify a noun, like in a melhor equipa (the better team).

Why is it depois do intervalo and not just depois o intervalo?

The word depois (after) must be followed by the preposition de when it introduces a noun. Here, de merges with the masculine definite article o (the) that belongs to intervalo, forming the contraction do.

In this context, does intervalo just mean a standard break?