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 Portuguese abroad weekend round-up

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England - Premier League

Chelsea record ended

Chelsea’s four-year unbeaten home record came to an end as the Blues were beaten 1-0 by Liverpool at Stamford Bridge on Sunday. Ricardo Carvalho returned to Luiz Felipe Scolari’s side after a recent spell out injured, joining Jose Bosingwa and Deco in the team, while Paulo Ferreira was left on the substitutes bench. Xabi Alonso’s early goal - a shot which took a deflection off Bosingwa from 15 metres - proved the difference as Liverpool replace Chelsea at the top of the Premiership.

The previous day, champions Manchester United were held to a 1-1 draw at Goodison Park against Everton. Cristiano Ronaldo started the match and played the full ninety minutes, while Nani came off the bench in the second half. Meanwhile, Nuno Valente was an unused substitute in David Moyes’ Everton squad.

Luis Boa Morte came on for the final thirteen minutes for West Ham United in their 2-0 defeat at home to Arsenal. Filipe Teixeira and Pedro Pele were not involved in West Brom’s 3-0 home defeat to Hull City, while Ricardo Vaz Te was not included for Bolton’s trip to Tottenham Hotspur, who were 2-0 winners in their first match since the sacking of Juande Ramos.

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Germany - Bundesliga

Almeida nets again

Hugo Almeida followed up his midweek goal in the Champions League with the equaliser as Werder Bremen drew 1-1 at Hannover. The Portuguese striker, who started the game, cancelled out Christian Schulz’s early goal for Hannover with his first league goal of the season on 40 minutes. Sergio Pinto played the full match for Hannover.

Elsewhere, Armando Petit was in the FC Cologne midfield for their 2-0 defeat at Bayer Leverkusen, while Daniel Fernandes kept goal as Bochum went down 2-0 at Stuttgart. Wolfsburg’s Ricardo Costa served the final match of his suspension as his team lost 4-2 at Bayern Munich.

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Italy - Serie A

Inter held

Champions Inter were surprisingly held to a goalless draw by Genoa at the San Siro on Sunday. Jose Mourinho handed Ricardo Quaresma a full ninety minutes for the champions, who could not make a breakthrough despite playing the final half hour against ten men following the dismissal of Genoa’s Ivan Juric.

The result saw Inter slip down to third place, with Udinese taking leadership of Serie A after nine matches played. Fiorentina are up to second, although Manuel da Costa did not feature in their 3-1 win over Palermo. Tiago Mendes was again left out of Juventus’ 1-0 derby win over Torino, while Vitorino Antunes (Lecce) and Goncalo Brandao (Siena) were both also not in action for their clubs this weekend.

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Spain - La Liga

Simao on fire

Simao Sabrosa made it four goals in his last three games with a brace in ten-man Atletico Madrid’s extraordinary 4-4 draw at Villarreal. The Portuguese put his side ahead after just one minute with a superb long-range strike, before then setting up Diego Forlan as Atletico took a 2-0 half time lead. Atletico then incredibly had Ever Banega sent off and conceded four times in the second half to appear on the brink of another league defeat. However, Simao got a second, before supplying the delivery from a free-kick for Raul Garcia to head home a sensational equaliser.

Villarreal’s draw meant that Valencia stayed top of La Liga, despite being held to a 1-1 draw by Recreativo Huelva at the Mestalla. Miguel and Manuel Fernandes both started for Valencia, but the visitors were without Roberto Beto. Real Madrid moved into third as Pepe took his place in defence for the champions’ 3-2 home win over Athletic Bilbao.

Sevilla slumped to a shock 1-0 home defeat to Malaga on Sunday. Sergio Duda was not in the Malaga side against his former club, but Helder Rosario and Eliseu both started for the visitors. Jose Nunes was dropped to the bench by Mallorca boss Gregorio Manzano for Mallorca’s 3-0 home win over Espanyol, while Ze Castro also watched from the bench as Deportivo La Coruna were thrashed 3-0 at home by Sporting Gijon.

Real Betis followed up last weekend’s win over Mallorca with a 2-0 victory at Osasuna, with Nelson at right-back and Ricardo the substitute goalkeeper. Racing Santander, without Jorge Goncalves and Ze Antonio, lost for the second time in four days with a 2-1 defeat at Numancia.

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Others

France

St Etienne dropped down into 14th place in Ligue 1 following a disappointing 2-0 home defeat to Grenoble at the Stade Geoffrey-Guichard. Paulo Machado started the match for Les Verts, but was replaced on 77 minutes with his team already 1-0 down.

Romania

Champions CFR Cluj lost 2-1 at Poli Timisoara on Sunday evening, leaving them nine points off the top and 7th in the Romanian league. Tony and Dani both started the match for Cluj, and defender Carlos Milhazes was on the winning side. Antonio Semedo played the full ninety minutes for Steaua Bucharest who were held 1-1 at home by Gloria Buzau, who selected Diogo Silva, Luis Dias and Miguel Russiano.

Rui Duarte and Paulo Adriano both started for FC Brasov and Diogo Ramos came on as substitute for Gloria Bistrita as the sides played out a goalless draw. Bruno Fernandes played in defence for Unirea Urziceni in their 1-0 win over Farul Constanta, who were without Miguel Faria and Chico Fernandes. Pandurii had Mingote in goal as they beat FC Vaslui 1-0, with Hugo Luz playing in defence on the losing side.

Jose Peseiro’s Rapid Bucharest travel to CS Otopeni on Monday night.

Russia

Zenit St Petersburg are now eight points adrift of a Champions League spot with just five matches left to play, after a disappointing 1-1 draw at Tom Tomsk on Sunday. Danny played in midfield for Zenit, who sit in sixth, two places and two points away from qualification for next season’s Uefa Cup.

Scotland

Pedro Mendes played the full ninety minutes in midfield for Rangers, helping the Glasgow club to a 3-1 win at Hamilton which keeps them in second place. Elsewhere in Scotland, Bruno Aguiar continued his return to full fitness with another start in Hearts’ 1-1 draw with Aberdeen at Tynecastle Stadium. Hibernian, without Filipe Morais, lost 4-2 at champions Celtic.

Serbia

Having lost their 100% record in the Serbian league last week, champions Partizan Belgrade lost for the first time domestically this season on Sunday. Almani Moreira played the full ninety minutes as Partizan went down to a surprising 1-0 defeat at FK Curaricki, but remain four points clear at the top of the table.

Switzerland

FC Basel recovered from their midweek hammering at the hands of Barcelona in the Champions League to beat Bellinzona 3-2 and remain joint-top of the Super League with FC Zurich. The champions, with Carlitos in the starting line-up, were 2-0 down at half time, but after drawing level completed the turnaround with Huggel’s 93rd minute winner. Elsewhere in Switzerland, Nelson Ferreira played the full match as FC Luzern lost 1-0 at Neuchatel Xamax.

Turkey

Turkish champions Galatasaray slipped down to 6th place in the league following a surprise 4-2 defeat at Eskisehirspor on Sunday evening. Fernando Meira played for the champions, who led 2-1 at one stage, and conceded twice in injury time. Meanwhile, Neca and Ankaraspor moved up into third with a 4-0 win over Kocaelispor in the capital.

Ukraine

Metalurh Donetsk were beaten 2-0 at home by Metalist Kharkiv on Sunday, leaving them five points adrift of leaders Dynamo Kiev in the Ukrainian title race. Both Mario Sergio and Ricardo Fernandes started for Metalurh, who have won eight, drawn two and lost two of their opening 12 matches of the season.

Star Performer

Simao Sabrosa (Atletico Madrid)

With four goals in his last three matches, Simao is fast becoming one of Atletico Madrid’s most important players as the team struggle with domestic form. The former Benfica captain’s two goals and two assists, in a sensational personal performance, helped ten-man Atletico to what had looked an unlikely point at Villarreal.

Earlier Round-ups