FC Porto have held onto their six-point-lead at the top of the Primeira Liga table after overcoming Moreirense 1-0 away from home.
The Dragons took the lead via Evanilson’s 40th-minute opener but a red card and a couple of chances from the hosts came close to halting Porto’s recent winning form in the second half.
Sporting applied the pressure beforehand on Sérgio Conceição’s men with a 3-0 win at home, with Pedro Gonçalves, Matheus Reis and Pablo Sarabia all on target.
Sporting 3-0 Estoril
In the aftermath of Sporting’s 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League, the Lions next task was to keep their title hopes alive without four key players, out for suspension, as Estoril came to the Alvalade.
The absences didn’t leave too much of a lasting effect on Rúben Amorim’s men, however, who found the lead via a Pedro Gonçalves follow-up from Sarabia’s spilt shot in the 40th minute.
On from the bench, Raúl Silva didn’t help Estoril’s cause as his reckless challenge on Pedro Porro led the referee to asses the challenge on the VAR monitor and red-card the Brazilian centre back, on loan from Braga.
Sporting’s dominance grew with Matheus Reis doubling their advantage in the 76th minute before Sarabia’s roof-raising curler four minutes later, concluding a much-needed 3-0 victory.
Moreirense 0-1 FC Porto
A potentially tricky away fixture against Ricardo Sá Pinto’s Moreirense promised to complicate an otherwise successful week thus far for Porto, who were out to back up their Europa League success against Lazio with a response to Sporting’s victory earlier in the night.
Much like their title rivals, the Dragons found the back of the net with five minutes of the first half to go as Mehdi Taremi did the hard work down the byline prior to setting up Evanilson for a tap-in.
The mood came close to souring when Matheus Uribe, already on a yellow, conceded a foul inside the box for a Moreirense penalty, only for play to be brought back for a foul on Fábio Cardoso in the build-up.
The red cards eventually made an appearance in the second half as Marko Grujic and Steven Vitória left their respective teams playing out the rest of the encounter with ten men each.
Momentum stuck with the hosts in the final 15 minutes, however, as the crossbar and a big one-on-one save from Diogo Costa denied Moreirense from claiming a crucial point from table-topping Porto, home and dry with a 1-0 victory.
By Patrick Ribeiro
Matchday 23
P. Ferreira 2-1 Vizela
Vitória 1-3 Arouca
Marítimo 0-1 Famalicão
Sporting 3-0 Estoril
Moreirense 0-1 FC Porto
Monday 21st February
Santa Clara vs. Portimonense
