In a week dominated by the happenings at Benfica, neither FC Porto nor Sporting could afford to take their eye off the ball, as they tussle for top spot before the first ‘Clássico’ of the season next Sunday.
The Dragons were first to take up their positions, welcoming a fearless Portimonense side to the Estádio do Dragão before toppling the newly-promoted club with an entertaining 5-2 victory. The mood grew even sweeter for Sérgio Conceição’s team when Sporting scuppered the chance to make it seven wins from seven games with a 1-1 draw away to Moreirense, as the Lions fell two points behind the league leaders.
Last but not least, in a bid to dampen the critics, Benfica rounded up Saturday’s footballing action with a comfortable 2-0 win. As always, PortuGOAL brings you all the action at the top of the Liga NOS table.
FC Porto 5-2 Portimonense
As they warmed up for Tuesday’s UEFA Champions League tie versus Leonardo Jardim’s AS Monaco, Porto were looking to safeguard their 100% record in the league against a Portimonense side that’s failed to find the back of the net on just one occasion this season.
Iván Marcano got things started for the hosts with a close-range volley into the ground in the 20th minute, whereas Vincent Aboubakar would opt for sheer power from a similar position to fire the ‘Blue and Whites’ into a 2-0 lead just three minutes later.
The Porto blitz continued in the 25th minute, with Moussa Marega keeping his cool one-on-one with Ricardo Ferreira to dink the ball past the goalkeeper and into the back of the net.
Portimonense’s Shoya Nakajima would pull a goal back for the visitors before the break, but the hosts would be back on their grind as early as the 4th minute of the second period through Yacine Brahimi’s finish, making it 4-1.
The Algerian went on to bag his brace, making full use of a neat Aboubakar back-heel and a cute Héctor Herrera dummy to invade the box and find the bottom corner in the 68th minute, as Ruben Fernandes’ consolation goal concluded the 5-2 result.
Moreirense 1-1 Sporting
With an eye on their meeting with Barcelona in the Champions League, Sporting would need to overcome Moreirense first if they were to close in on top spot and head into their midweek date in good spirits.
The Lions started rather tentatively, however, with their only rare bit of goal action, courtesy of Alan Ruiz’s nod into an empty net being chalked off by the officials following Bas Dost’s aerial dispute with the Moreirense goalkeeper in the 42nd minute.
The Moreira de Cónegos outfit set off all the alarms just a minute later through Rafael Costa, picking up a loose ball on the edge of Sporting’s box to ping an effort across Rui Patrício’s goal and into the top corner.
Jorge Jesus’ men were back on level terms on the hour mark when Mohamed Abarhoune helped William Carvalho’s shot into the net with a fruitless block.
Gelson Martins came agonisingly close to turning the game on its head in the 66th minute when hitting the underside of the crossbar with an out-stretched leg from close range, as Sporting failed to go beyond the recovery of a sole point upon the full-time whistle.
Jesus concluded the encounter by lamenting his side’s slow start to the game, stating: “The team, in the first half, thought they could play as little as they did. They thought that the goals would eventually come and that’s what cost us in the end.”
Benfica 2-0 Paços de Ferreira
A win and nothing else would calm the tensions that have circulated around the Estádio da Luz outfit, as Benfica looked to bring a winless run of three games in all competitions to an end versus Paços de Ferreira.
The Eagles began on top, striking the woodwork twice within the opening 18 minutes of the game to hype up their support.
Benfica’s early momentum wouldn’t go to waste, however, as Franco Cervi welcomed Andrija Živković’s cutback towards the edge of the box to steer the ball out of Mário Felgueiras’ reach in the 20th minute with a fantastic first-time strike.
Jonas doubled the hosts’ lead in the 61st minute, meeting Haris Seferovic’s glancing header to finish from close range, with a more cutting edge in front of goal being the only factor denying Rui Vitória’s men a sizeable win at full-time.
“We approached the game in the right way,” said coach Rui Vitória. “We can look at our performance in two ways: what we did in the first half, and what we prevented Paços from doing in the second half.”
By Patrick Ribeiro
Matchday 7
FC Porto 5-2 Moreirense
Estoril 0-2 Chaves
Moreirense 1-1 Sporting
Benfica 2-0 Paços de Ferreira
Sunday 24th September
Vit. Guimarães – Marítimo
Feirense – Belenenses
Tondela – Sp. Braga
Desp. Aves – Rio Ave
Monday 25th September
Vit. Setúbal - Boavista