Matchday 11 had a sprinkling of Liga NOS games spread across four days. And it proved to be another lively weekend of action.
This weekend saw Petit leave his post in charge of Boavista after another defeat, a goal-fest of a Madeiran derby and Benfica answer a few questions from the critics. There was also a clash on Sunday evening between two Europa League hopefuls.
Tondela 0-1 Porto
Following a disappointing midweek performance against Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League, Julen Lopetegui’s Porto side were looking to get back to winning ways with a Saturday visit to basement dwellers, Tondela. Or to be more precise, a visit to Aveiro.
Many would’ve expected the Dragões to cruise comfortably past their hosts, however this was not to be as Rui Bento’s side had their opportunities to take a share of the points.
Ultimately, the game was settled on 28 minutes through a Brahimi strike. The Algerian executed a superb curled effort from the edge of the box that flew over Tondela stopper, Cláudio Ramos, and into the far corner. It was a fantastic finish that doubled Brahimi’s league tally for the season to 2.
Shortly after the half hour mark, the recently criticised Lopetegui was sent to the stands for voicing his opinions a little too candidly for referee Manuel Mota’s liking.
Porto asserted their dominance as the first half wore on and the best chance fell to Vincent Aboubakar in injury time before the break. The Cameroon striker fired in a shot on the turn inside the penalty area, but his effort drifted just wide of Cláudio Ramos’ far post with the stopper well beaten.
After the break, Porto again created chances with Tello bringing a fine save out of Cláudio Ramos with a shot from range. However Tondela came more into the game and a fine pacy run by 18-year-old Romário Baldé saw the left winger fire over Iker Casillas’ bar. And in the 82nd minute, Venezuelan Jhon Murillo again attacked at pace and was brought down by Maicon in the box. Manuel Mota pointed to the spot and booked the Porto defender before Salvo Chamorro’s weak penalty was saved by Casillas.
Sporting 1-0 Belenenses
The league leaders looked to maintain their good run of form with a Lisbon derby against Belenenses, and a certain Ricardo Sá Pinto. The former striker made close to 200 appearances for Os Leões and also had a short stint in charge in 2012. He remains a fan favourite at the Alvalade but would've been looking to show his admirers no favours on Monday evening.
Both sides created chances early on but the best fell to Sporting's Fredy Montero on 18 minutes when the Colombian striker got a sight at goal and unleashed a drive from the edge of the box. Fortunately for the blue part of Lisbon, Hugo Ventura was equal to it to maintain the status quo.
On 38 minutes, Bryan Ruiz got in on the act with a maze-like run through the Belenenses defence. The Costa Rican found himself deep into the Belenenses penalty area before firing a shot which Ventura was able to narrowly turn around the far post.
To be fair, Belenenses offered precious little going forward in this game and the second half played out as the first had. Sporting created numerous chances with Ruiz, Montero and Slimani all guilty of missing good opportunities to break the deadlock.
However a clear handball by Belenenses defender, Tonel, meant Sporting were given a lifeline to take all three points when referee, Artur Soares Dias, pointed to the spot. William Carvalho was summoned to dispatch the resulting penalty and seal the victory for Jorge Jesus' side.
Braga 0-2 Benfica
This is a game that would've made plenty of Benfiquistas apprehensive going into it. Braga are having a superb season under Paulo Fonseca and, with home advantage and Benfica suffering from several key injuries, it would've been a brave person to predict the outcome.
There were rare starts for Ljubomir Fejsa and Renato Sanches for Benfica while Kostas Mitroglou got the nod up front. Braga were missing the influential Vukcevic in their midfield.
Any nerves the Benfiquistas were feeling were quickly put to bed when Pizzi found the net in just the 3rd minute. A superb back heel by Mitroglou found the would-be scorer whose shot ricocheted off of a combination of Braga 'keeper, Kritsyuk, and defender, Baiano, to find its way into the back of the net. And it wasn't long before the Lisbon side doubled their lead.
While both sides traded blows, Benfica were awarded a corner which was taken by Gaitán. He found the head of Pizzi on the edge of the box and, looking anything but a centre-half, Lisandro López brought the ball down on his chest, turned, and rifled home low past Kritsyuk to make it 0-2. The Argentine international is enjoying some playing time of late with the injury to club captain, Luisão.
Braga almost hit back four minutes later when Hassan headed a pacy Luiz Carlos cross onto the post, with Júlio César beaten all ends up. And the Egyptian striker was at the forefront of most of Braga's chances for the remainder of the half as they looked for a way back into the game.
In the second half, Gaitán struck a free kick against Kritsyuk's bar from just outside the box on 47 minutes, while Braga's Filipe Augusto did likewise in the 69th minute - the second time in this game the framework of the goal came to Benfica's rescue. And with three minutes left of normal time, Augusto again shot from range and this time stung the palms of Júlio César.
The result means that Benfica leapfrog Braga into 3rd place with a one point cushion.
Other results
Nacional 3-1 Marítimo
Vitória Setúbal 2-2 União
Boavista 1-2 Vitória Guimarães
Académica Coimbra 1-1 Arouca
Rio Ave 0-1 Moreirense
Paços de Ferreira 2-0 Estoril
by Paul Gellard
