• Benfica
• Primeira Liga,
• Sporting,
• Matheus Nunes
• Joao Palhinha

Sporting 1-0 Benfica

Sporting have strengthened their hold of first place with a dramatic 1-0 victory against Benfica in the Lisbon Derby, secured late on at the Alvalade by a Matheus Nunes header.

The two outfits went head-to-head in the capital in an important night in the tussle for the Primeira Liga title, following on from FC Porto’s 2-0 victory against Rio Ave, earlier in the night.

As the Lisbon pair wore each other out en route to an anticipated 0-0 score-line, an 11th-hour header from Matheus Nunes, starting ahead of the ever-present João Palhinha in the Derby, pinched all three points for Sporting and Rúben Amorim, triumphant against his former club and creating a nine-point-gap between the two sides.

• Benfica
• Moreirense
• Primeira Liga,
• Liga NOS,
• Sporting,
• FC Porto,
• Sporting de Braga,
• Rio Ave
• Luis Diaz

FC Porto have come to within a point of first-placed Sporting ahead of the Monday night’s Lisbon Derby after goals from Luis Diaz and Evanilson secured them a 2-0 win at home against Rio Ave.

The Dragons, keen to take advantage of dropped points arising from the clash between Sporting and Benfica, required just a couple of goals from Diaz and Evanilson to take down Miguel Cardoso on his first day back in charge of Rio Ave.

Porto’s win was followed up by Braga’s triumph in Moreira de Conégos versus Moreirense, winning 4-0 in emphatic fashion and glueing themselves to Benfica on 33 points, prior to tonight’s main event.

The historical statistics make for stark reading from a Sporting point of view. Over the last eight seasons the Lions have only beaten city rivals Benfica once in 16 attempts in the liga, losing eight times and drawing the other seven. This part explains why it has been Benfica competing with Porto to conquer the Primeira Liga for what seems like forever, while Sporting look on from the outside.

But this season is shaping up to be different. A new-look Sporting has started the 2020/21 campaign brilliantly, winning 12 and drawing three of their 15 Liga matches to date to sit atop the table. Victory at Alvalade this evening will potentially be a knockout blow to Benfica’s chances of catching Rúben Amorim’s team, as it would open up a 9-point gap between the two clubs. PortuGOAL previews Monday night’s Lisbon derby. 

The jam-packed Portuguese schedule continued this week with Liga NOS’s 15th round of 2020/21. The league’s surprise package Paços Ferreira continued their brilliant run with a convincing triumph at Marítimo, whilst Belenenses SAD and Santa Clara reversed some recent struggles with important victories over Tondela and Rio Ave respectively.

Braga and Porto responded to last week’s Taça da Liga disappointments with narrow wins, although Benfica’s worries continued in a stalling draw with Nacional.

The aforementioned Taça da Liga disappointments came courtesy of eventual winners Sporting, whose manager Rúben Amorim picked up another trophy in his fledgling career. He followed it up by guiding his team to maintaining their lead at the top of the domestic division against Boavista on Tuesday night, and he is the PortuGOAL Figure of the Week.