It was a wet and windy start to 2023’s Liga Bwin action as the title race followed the Portuguese weather in taking a turn. Leaders Benfica’s victory over Portimonense extended their lead at the top to 6 points, the Eagles recovering from last week’s loss to Braga, who in turn jumped into second place themselves by battering Santa Clara.
The aforementioned dynamic occurred by virtue of Porto and Sporting dropping points, the former held by the ever-impressive and arguable story of the season Casa Pia, while the latter were stunned in Madeira by Marítimo.
Another of the league’s surprise packages this campaign has been Arouca, who have quietly established themselves into the top half of the table. Their charge up the table has been spear-headed largely by forward Oday Dabbagh, who is our PortuGOAL Figure of the Week after a terrific individual display in helping his team overcome Estoril.
Boavista got back on track in the Primeira Liga after securing a deserved 1-0 victory against Gil Vicente at Estádio do Bessa Século XXI.
A resolute performance by Casa Pia saw the Lisbon outfit hold FC Porto to a goalless draw at the Jamor National Stadium tonight, despite playing over half the match with only ten men.
Benfica have returned to winning ways after a 1-0 win at home to Portimonense saw them bounce back from their first Primeira Liga defeat of the season versus Sporting de Braga, last Friday.
Right, where were we? With the 2022 World Cup taking everyone’s minds off domestic football for a good two months, you’d be forgiven for not being totally up to speed with everything that’s happened behind the scenes in the Portuguese top flight.