• Primeira Liga,
• Sporting,
• Sporting de Braga,
• Rio Ave
• Pacos de Ferreira
• Carlos Carvalhal
• Pedro Goncalves

Sporting de Braga have missed out on the chance to close in on the top three after a Friday of draws for Sporting, Benfica and FC Porto, losing 2-0 instead to Paços de Ferreira, this Saturday.

Sporting were the first to drop points in a 1-1 draw at the Alvalade prior to an identical result in the Clássico between Porto and Benfica.

The results opened up an avenue for Braga to get closer to their competitive rivals, but the struggles extended themselves to Carlos Carvalhal’s men too, losing 2-0 away to Paços.

• Benfica
• FC Porto,
• Classico,
• Moussa Marega,
• Mehdi Taremi
• Alex Grimaldo

FC Porto 1-1 Benfica

Both FC Porto and Benfica have missed the chance to cut the gap at the top down to two points after sharing the spoils in a 1-1 draw at the Estádio do Dragão, this Friday night.

Following Sporting’s 1-1 draw to Rio Ave earlier in the evening, the Dragons and the Eagles were handed the opportunity to make second place their own and close in on the league leaders, providing a victory for either side.

Alex Grimaldo’s opener set Benfica’s plan in motion in the first half before Moussa Marega’s subtle touch from Mehdi Taremi’s strike equalled matters before the break.

A reckless Taremi challenge, later in the second period, left Porto to fend off Jorge Jesus’ side with just ten men in the final 20 minutes, but the visitors failed to make their numerical advantage count en route to a 1-1 stalemate in the ‘Clássico’.

The 2020/21 Liga NOS season is a little over one third of the way through, but tonight’s two matches feel like they could have a crucial bearing on who will end up champions of Portugal.

The big match takes place in the city of Porto at 9.00pm local time as the reigning champions host Benfica. Defeat for either team could see them fall seven points behind Sporting, provided the Lions can recover from the double blow of a first domestic defeat of the season and an outbreak of Covid-19 to see off Rio Ave.

PortuGOAL previews tonight’s action. 

Benfica and Braga stroll into quarters

The round of 16 of Portugal’s second most important competition, the Taça de Portugal, has produced a lively set of games so far this week. The giant-killing honours go to second-tier Estoril who knocked out Liga NOS outfit Rio Ave.

The other major surprise saw Marítimo become the first Portuguese team to defeat Sporting this season, running out 2-0 victors in Funchal on Monday night. There was nearly another shock in Madeira the following evening as Nacional led FC Porto 2-1 close to the 90-minute mark, but a late equaliser led to extra time, with the Dragons eventually running out 4-2 winners.