FC Porto and Benfica clocked up crucial wins on the road in Belgium and Ukraine respectively to put themselves back in with a chance of qualification for the knockout stage of the Champions League.
Sporting fell to defeat at home to Borussia Dortmund and now look certain to be playing Europa League football after Christmas.
Elsewhere Bernardo Silva scored for Monaco, while Portugal duo Cristiano Ronaldo and Ricardo Quaresma, both scorers in the last round of Champions League matches, turned providers with two assists each for Real Madrid and Besiktas.
Last-gasp Andre Silva completes Porto comeback
After getting through a tough qualifier against Roma, Porto had disappointed in their first two matches in a seemingly negotiable Group G, drawing at home to Copenhagen and losing at Leicester. And things did not appear to be getting any better for the Dragons when Vossen made early pressure count to put Club Brugges into lead after 12 minutes at the Jan Breydelstadion.
A much improved second-half display by Porto was rewarded, first with a superb equaliser as Miguel Layún thundered in an unstoppable 25-yard screamer. The winner for the Portuguese side came in stoppage time as Jesús Corona was upended in the box and André Silva coolly converted the resulting penalty.
Porto remain third in the group, but are now level on points with Copenhagen ahead of the return match against Brugges at the Estádio do Dragão.
Dortmund too strong for Sporting
Sporting welcomed the German powerhouse to a packed Alvalade with hopes of a positive result, not least because of a wave of injuries depriving Borussia Dortmund of some key players, such as Marco Reus and Raphael Guerreiro.
But Borussia dominated the first half and went into the break with a 2-0 lead thanks to goals from the electric striker Aubameyang and impressive midfielder Julian Weigl. Despite being outplayed for the 45 minutes, Sporting were justified in feeling hard-done by when the referee controversially ruled out what would have been a Sebastián Coates equaliser because of an alleged foul on goalkeeper Roman Bürki by Bas Dost.
The hosts improved significantly after the break, and got back into the game when Bruno César thumped in an indirect free kick from inside the box. Bas Dost then headed inches wide and Gelson Martins put in a series of dangerous crosses, but Dortmund held on for the victory, leaving Sporting four points behind the Germans and Real Madrid at the halfway stage.
Argentine duo boost Benfica
Benfica picked up all three points against Dynamo Kiev in what coach Rui Vitória called “the first of four finals”. The Eagles made a bright start and went into a lead in the 9th minute when Dynamo’s Portuguese left-back Antunes fouled his compatriot Gonçalo Guedes in the box. Toto Sálvio sent the goalkeeper the wrong way from the penalty spot.
Franco Cervi made it 2-0 early in the second half finishing off a fine team move at the second attempt after his first shot had rebounded back to him off team-mate Mitroglou. Dynamo threw men forward and created chances but could find no way past the impressive Ederson in the Benfica goal as the Portuguese champions took all three points.
Benfica are third in Group B, one point behind Besiktas and two behind leaders Napoli.
Bernardo Silva rescues point for Monaco
Monaco are top of Group E and have given themselves a great chance of making progress after remaining unbeaten despite playing two of their three games away. Portuguese forward Bernardo Silva proved decisive, scoring a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw.
Besiktas achieved arguably the result of the week, beating Napoli 3-2 in Italy in a win that had a big contribution from two former Porto players. Ricardo Quaresma provided two assists, with Vincent Aboubakar – on loan from Porto – bagging a brace for the Turkish side.
Real Madrid smashed five goals past Legia Warsaw in the Spanish capital, which was no surprise, but what was surprising was that goal machine Cristiano Ronaldo did not score any of them. The Portugal captain laid on two lovely assists, though, for Asensio and Morata.
by Tom Kundert
