Porto’s long unbeaten run coming to an end at the hands of Braga was a notable event of Liga Bwin 2021/22’s 31st round of matches, Sporting managing to keep some faint title hopes alive in the process by beating Boavista.

Portimonense secured their Primeira Liga status for another season with a narrow win over Moreirense, while bottom pair Tondela and Belenenses SAD fractionally edged their way towards safety with battling draws.

One side that looks to have escaped the dogfight is Vizela, who overcame fellow strugglers Arouca in a tense tussle on Friday evening’s round opener. Our PortuGOAL Figure of the Week is Brazilian forward Guilherme Schettine, who scored twice on the night to secure the vital three points.

• Boavista
• Benfica
• Sporting,
• FC Porto,
• Sporting de Braga,
• Famalicao
• Ricardo Horta

FC Porto have seen an unbeaten run of 59 Primeira Liga games come to an end after falling to a 1-0 defeat away to Sporting de Braga, this evening.

The Dragons, nine points clear at the top of the table, were hopeful of edging themselves closer to securing the league title in their visit to Braga but instead saw a Ricardo Horta second-half goal register their first defeat of the season.

Sporting cut Porto’s lead down to six points in the follow-up to the action at the Estádio Municipal de Braga, winning away to Boavista after a Matheus Nunes first-half strike, an own goal from Boavista’s Rodrigo Abascal and a Bruno Tabata spot-kick.

Elsewhere, Benfica failed to ramp up the heat on their city rivals Sporting following last week’s victory in the Lisbon derby, succeeding the win away at the Alvalade with a goalless draw against Famalicão to leave them eight points behind second place.

FC Porto reinforced their dominance of Portuguese football this season by beating Sporting 1-0 at a rainy Estádio do Dragão last night in the Portuguese Cup semi-final second leg for a 3-1 aggregate victory. The Blue and Whites are now well set to complete the League and Cup double.

Tondela will be their opponents at Jamor after the Auriverdes drew 1-1 against Mafra for a 4-1 aggregate win. It is the first time the club from Portugal’s Beira region has reached the Portuguese Cup final. 

Only four rounds of Portuguese Primeira Liga action remain after a pivotal long weekend of action that seemingly settled the destination of this season’s league title, Porto’s thrashing of Portimonense likely confirming the return of the championship to the Dragões following defending champions Sporting’s painful loss to local rivals Benfica.

Down at the bottom end of the table Moreirense and Belenenses SAD each gave their survival bids much-needed shots in the arm by overcoming Tondela and Vizela to seriously intensify the overall battle to avoid the drop.

One side who look to have avoided being dragged into the fight is Marítimo, who reversed some recent poor form in stunning style after battering Boavista largely due to a hat-trick from forward Joel Tagueu, who completes another treble by being named our PortuGOAL Figure of the Week for the third time in four seasons.