Portuguese Football in English
Sporting booked their place in the Taça de Portugal final with a penalty shootout victory at the Estádio José Alvalade. The Lions overturned the one-goal advantage Porto held through the first leg with a late goal from Sebastián Coates.
Iván Marcano missed his spotkick and it fell to substitute Fredy Montero in the end to score the winning penalty to send Sporting to the Estádio Nacional to try and complete a domestic cup double against surprise finalists Aves.
We’re really getting down to the sharp end of the 2017/18 Liga NOS season now and Week 30 saw a clash of the titans, Porto returning to the top of the table in stunning fashion away at defending champions Benfica thanks to Héctor Herrera’s superb late goal.
The skipper rightly claimed most of the plaudits in the Clássico victory but one player who played just as important a role has been perhaps Porto’s most consistent player throughout the campaign: Ricardo Pereira.
The right-back has barely put a foot wrong in 2017/18, was effective in defence and effervescent in attack in Sunday’s crunch match, staking a real claim to join Fernando Santos’ Portugal squad in Russia this summer. Ricardo is PortuGOAL’s Figure of the Week.
Benfica 0-1 FC Porto
FC Porto have returned to the top of the Primeira Liga table after a late Héctor Herrera goal powered the Dragons past Benfica with a 1-0 victory at the Estádio da Luz, this evening.
The two title contenders looked poised for a share of the spoils before the Mexican's strike from range stole the show in the 90th minute, moving the Dragons back above second-placed Benfica with a two-point lead.
The drama of Week 29 in Liga NOS was primarily reserved for off-the-field events as Sporting fell into near complete meltdown with a very public spat between the players and club president Bruno de Carvalho.
They recovered of sorts to ultimately win their game against Paços Ferreira, while Porto also kept up their title challenge with a straightforward win over Aves.
However, champions Benfica remain on top of the league with a 2-1 victory at Vitória Setúbal, albeit far from an easy one relying on a stoppage time penalty to claim the three points. The star man on the day, and PortuGOAL’s Figure of the Week, was two-goal hero Raúl Jiménez.
The recent change of scenery at the top of the Primeira Liga saw Benfica come out at the Estádio do Bonfim at the weekend looking to firm up their bid to secure a fifth straight league title from the lofty heights of first place.
In Jonas' absence, Rui Vitória's men required a late Raúl Jiménez penalty to do so, however, with a 2-1 victory away to Vitória de Setúbal keeping FC Porto a point's distance from the top of the table, following their 2-0 win versus Desportivo das Aves.
Last in action were Sporting, dipped into a very public dispute between players and its club president, Bruno de Carvalho, but the club's key stars still had some energy to level at Paços de Ferreira, who were defeated by a 2-0 scoreline at the Alvalade.
