Portuguese Football in English
In front of a crowd of over 60,000 fans, Benfica safely negotiated a potentially troublesome fixture in their championship quest against Braga this afternoon thanks to a goal in each half from Jonas and Eliseu.
The victory consolidates the Eagles' position at the top of the table and edges the Lisbon giants a step closer to back-to-back titles. Benfica will remain at least four points clear of FC Porto (who host Arouca tomorrow) with nine matches remaining.
Last Tuesday night FC Basel were comprehensively beaten by FC Porto, a match that was analysed soon after the final whistle blew. But sometimes words fail to paint a proper picture that helps explain where exactly the difference lay between the two legs.
An attempt to put it into context, with the aid of chalkboards and statistics, follows below.
As Portugal's sole representative in the Champions League, FC Porto were trying to successfully negotiate their way into the competition's quarter-finals stage for the fifth time, thus cementing their place as the country's leading force in Europe (second-best Benfica only managing to achieve it twice since the inception of the Champions League).
Without captain Jackson Martínez, recently injured against Braga, and Óliver Torres only fit for the bench, there were some questions marks about the Dragons' ability to beat a side that both Real Madrid and Liverpool had found to be tricky. As it turns out, Julen Lopetegui's charges put in the performance of the season so far and will have certainly put some of their names on the radar of bigger European teams.
After Sunday’s comprehensive defeat of Sporting, FC Porto had another tough obstacle to overcome – this time it was Braga, who had arrived at this match on the back of a very interestingly winning streak. If Julen Lopetegui’s had any hopes of breathing down Benfica’s neck, victory was mandatory.
However, the team led by the Dragons’ former glory Sérgio Conceição had other ideas and wasn’t willing to roll over, particularly because Sporting’s defeat last Sunday at the Dragão meant that Braga were in touching distance of a much sought-after Champions League berth.
A terrific Portuguese Cup semi-final 1st leg in Madeira last night ended all square as Nacional and Sporting played out an exciting 2-2 draw.
The result gives Sporting the advantage (on away goals) going into the second leg at the Alvalade on 8 April. But on this showing, Nacional proved they are still in with a chance of making their first ever final.
