With the task of defeating Académica in the hotly contested Liga NOS sandwiched between two heavyweight ties against Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League, ‘respite’ is a word that won’t be entering Benfica’s vocabulary so soon.
Hot on their heels are 2nd placed Sporting, who welcomed Marítimo to Lisbon, meanwhile FC Porto looked to bounce back from last week’s 1-0 defeat to Tondela with a less than kind journey to the Estádio da Mata Real to face Europa League hopefuls Paços de Ferreira.
PortuGOAL rounds up the top weekend action from Round 29 of the Primeira Liga.
Académica 1-2 Benfica
Much fuss was made over the appointment of João Capela for the clash between Académica and Benfica, a referee accused of being favourable towards ‘the Eagles’ in the past, and the 41-year-old had his hands full as early as the 14th minute when he rejected appeals for a penalty from the hosts as Marinho went down inside the box.
Académica returned promptly to cause further troubles to Benfica’s defence via Rafa Soares, with the left back’s cross eventually falling to the feet of the game’s first goalscorer, Pedro Nuno, who steered his shot around Ederson to make it 1-0 in the 18th minute.
Kostas Mitroglou threatened to pull Benfica level in the 37th minute when his header went wide of the mark, and with Académica’s defence failing to acknowledge the initial warning, the Greek striker popped up again just two minutes later to head Pizzi’s cross into the net at the far post and equalise for the visitors.
Rui Vitória’s men almost turned the score on its head with their very next attack when Pizzi rounded the goalkeeper and saw his shot to be cleared off the line, meanwhile a half-volley by Jardel inside the box went high and wide moments before the interval.
Benfica looked to pick up where they left off as play resumed for the second half through Nico Gaitan’s free kick, subsequently dealt with by Trigueiro between the sticks.
Following a frustrating quarter of an hour for the visitors, Benfica finally created another noteworthy opportunity to score in the 67th minute, but again Trigueiro came away unscathed by parrying away a low header from Jonas.
Minute 82 saw Jardel rise alone in Académica’s box but for a second time in the game the Brazilian’s effort lacked the accuracy in a time where it was beginning to look like Benfica weren’t going to find a way through.
Raúl Jiménez had other ideas, however, clawing André Almeida’s cross into his own path and volleying in the game’s winning goal in the 85th minute, as Benfica maintain top spot in the Liga NOS for another week.
Sporting 3-1 Maritimo
Following Benfica’s late rescue mission, the pressure was back on the green half of Lisbon as Sporting prepared to cut their rival’s lead back to two points. Bryan Ruiz almost set Jorge Jesus’ men on their way to doing just that in the 14th minute, but the Costa Rican, and not for the first time this season, directed Teófilo Gutiérrez’s cross just wide in an area where it was undoubtedly harder to miss.
Marítimo returned the favour when an unmarked Dyego Sousa opted to attack Patrick’s cross with an outstretched leg rather than his head, as his volley sailed comfortably over the bar in the 16th minute.
Rui Patrício was forced into making a save in the 40th minute from a João Diogo shot, but it was at the other end that the Marítimo right back really made a difference, deflecting Gutiérrez’s long range shot up and over his keeper Romain Salin on the brink of half time for Sporting’s opener.
‘Os Leões’ made it 2-0 seven minutes into the second half through the unlikely source that is William Carvalho, as the 24-year-old’s left footed strike skipped past Salin and into the bottom right corner.
The Portuguese international was at the heart of Sporting’s third goal when his two consecutive tackles deep in the visitors half enabled him to find João Mário inside the box, as his compatriot gifted Islam Slimani with an easy tap-in and his 23rd league goal of the season in the 76th minute.
Armenian international Gevorg Ghazaryan managed to pull a goal back for the visitors when he turned in Fransérgio’s cross-shot in the 81st minute. Sporting’s Matheus Pereira could have amplified the score further when he ran through one-on-one with Salin late on, but the 19-year-old’s tame effort ensured a 3-1 result.
The results of the top two leaves the title race as tight as ever, and it would take a brave punter to have a substantial wager on either of the Lisbon giants lifting the crown. A safer bet would be to have a flutter at the casino which you can do at the http://www.top5onlinecasino.ca.
Paços de Ferreira 1-0 FC Porto
The 2015/2016 season has been somewhat of a write off for FC Porto and their first half against Paços de Ferreira was no different, as José Peseiro opted to start Suk Hyun-Jun and Silvestre Varela in place of the axed Vincent Aboubakar and benched Yacine Brahimi.
In a porous evening, ‘Os Dragões’ managed just three shots on target, all gathered with relative ease by Rafael Defendi, before heading into half-time with the score locked at 0-0.
Peseiro turned to Brahimi for some much-needed inspiration in the second half and it was from the Algerian’s work that Porto were given their next sighting of the Paços de Ferreira goal, only for the former tenant of the Mata Real stadium, Sérgio Oliveira, to strike his shot wide in the 50th minute.
Oliveira was on hand to try his luck at goal once more in the 70th minute, this time forcing Defendi to palm away the midfielder’s bouncing effort wide for a corner.
Opportunities for the hosts to score came few and far between but they made full use of the chance they did get when Bruno Santos raced down the right flank, pegging back his cross for Diogo Jota to beat Iker Casillas at his near post and register his 10th league goal of the season.
Defendi was called into action twice more, denying André Silva from close range in the 83rd minute before Suk’s header right at the death was acrobatically kept out by the Brazilian shot-stopper, as Paços de Ferreira clinched their first win versus the traditional ‘Big Three’ this season to go within six points of 5th placed Arouca.
Week 29
Boavista 0-0 Arouca
Académica 1-2 Benfica
Sporting 3-1 Maritimo
Nacional 4-1 Estoril
Tondela 1-0 U. Madeira
V. Setúbal 0-1 Belenenses
P. Ferreira 1-0 FC Porto
Sp. Braga 1-1 Moreirense
Rio Ave – V. Guimarães (Monday)
By Patrick Ribeiro
