Ahead of an important weekend of action, largely due to the recurring to and fro between Liga NOS leaders Benfica and their direct challengers FC Porto, Sporting sought to add to the headlines with a looming presidential election and an equally significant fixture to boot.

Porto took the initiative and were on cue to flaunt their qualities against a troubled Nacional side with a comprehensive 7-0 victory prior to Benfica’s trip to Santa Maria da Feira.

There, Feirense hoped to cause an upset against Rui Vitória’s side, but a 1-0 win would be enough to propel the Eagles back to first place.

This result leads us to what was tipped to be the pick of the weekend. On the back of Bruno de Carvalho’s crushing electoral victory, there was nothing to choose between third placed Sporting and Vitória de Guimarães in fifth, as the two outfits played out a 1-1 draw. Here’s how the tale of the weekend played out.

PortuGOAL have teamed up with oz.com to offer coverage of the Portuguese Cup semi-finals. Watch Estoril vs. Benfica and Vitória Guimarães vs. Chaves for free in full HD live streaming. 

The first legs of the last-four clashes in the Taça de Portugal will be played on 28 February (Estoril-Benfica) and 1 March (Vitória de Guimaraes-Chaves).

Fans of Portuguese football are now able to experience the games outside of Portugal using their favourite device in full HD live streaming. The service is offered via OZ at www.oz.com.

The showpiece Portuguese Cup final traditionally brings the curtain down on the domestic season at the Jamor Stadium on the outskirts of Lisbon, and this year’s last four pits together two teams from the capital and two of the strongest teams from northern Portugal (previews below).

Familiar patterns are beginning to emerge amongst the dizzying heights of the Liga NOS table, with none of the traditional ‘Big Three’ succumbing to upsets for a third week running, and once again each of Benfica, Sporting and Porto’s main goal-getters adding to their tallies.

Benfica kicked proceedings off for the pack of title chasers on Friday night with the visit of Chaves to the Estádio da Luz, eventually overcome by the likes of Kostas Mitroglou in a hard-fought 3-1 victory.

Rivals Sporting were out for much of the same in their short journey to Estoril, as goals from Bryan Ruiz and Bas Dost reinforced their hold over third place.

FC Porto were tasked with overcoming their midweek European woes and cutting the gap between them and table-toppers Benfica back to one point in none other than the ‘Invicta Derby’, requiring just the one goal from the in-form Tiquinho Soares to skip past the Boavista hurdle. Here’s how things panned out for the Portuguese giants over the weekend.

PortuGOAL continues its series of in-depth analyses of Portugal’s lesser known teams by turning the spotlight on arguably this season’s greatest overachievers.

GD Chaves have returned to the top flight after a 17-year absence. Instead of a battle for survival, the northernmost team in Portugal has spent the whole season in the top half of the table as well as making it to the semi-finals of the Portuguese Cup.

Moreover, Chaves have beaten Porto and Sporting in 2016/17 and tonight will attempt to complete the trio of ‘Big Three’ scalps when they take on Benfica at the Estádio da Luz.

Tiago Estêvão breaks down the secrets behind their success.