• Sporting,
• Sporting de Braga,
• Rio Ave
• Gil Vicente
• Mehdi Taremi
• Carlos Carvalhal
• Custodio
• Gonzalo Plata

Sporting have increased the gap between third and fourth place to five points after a 2-0 home victory versus Gil Vicente was complemented with Sporting de Braga’s 4-3 defeat to Rio Ave.

A seven-goal-thriller at the Estádio dos Arcos, tipped in Rio Ave’s favour by Mehdi Taremi's late penalty, enabled Carlos Carvalhal’s side to move within touching distance of fourth-placed Braga, who, as a consequence, said their goodbyes to recently-appointed coach Custódio.

Defeat for Rúben Amorim’s former side meant he could take advantage in the race for a podium finish, just five games away from the end of the season, with goals from Wendel and Gonzalo Plata securing another positive result for Sporting at the Alvalade on Thursday night, winning 2-1. PortuGOAL has more from Matchday 29.

• Benfica
• Maritimo
• Primeira Liga,
• Liga NOS,
• FC Porto,
• Bruno Lage
• Pacos de Ferreira
• Chancel Mbemba
• Nanu

FC Porto have moved one step closer to claiming the Primeira Liga title after Benfica lost for a second consecutive game, this time falling to a 2-0 loss at the hands of Marítimo away from home.

The Eagles started well in Madeira but were made to pay for missed opportunities, with goals from Jorge Correa and Rodrigo Pinho in the final 20 minutes wrapping up Bruno Lage’s time at Benfica. The head coach offered to resign from his post after the final whistle.

Porto replied with a 1-0 win on Monday night, against Paços de Ferreira, as they increased the gap between them and second place to six points with just five games left to play.

With football collectively awakening from its enforced slumber and several competitions being played out to a rightful conclusion, the attention has shifted to the resumption of title races all across Europe.

The focus on that has seen an increased amount of sports betting Colorado with punters trying to predict who will win this season’s Liga NOS. It is a prediction that will only go as far as either Benfica or FC Porto.

Both teams are in action tonight, and are separated by just three points with 6 matches remaining. And once again, these giants of the Portuguese game are straddling the two highest rungs of the Liga ladder, and although this season’s title race looks as if it will go down to the wire, questions regarding the competition’s overall health must be asked. 

There was a local derby flavour to round 28 of this Liga NOS season as Braga overcame bitter rivals Vitória Guimarães in a 3-2 thriller while Sporting beat Belenenses in last night’s Lisbon duel.

The relegation battle heated up as Portimonense’s revival continued in a close match against fellow strugglers Marítimo, while Paços boosted their survival hopes with a third win in four matches.

The biggest story of the week though was the latest twist in the title race. In another derby encounter Porto thrashed Boavista to take advantage of a sensational win for Santa Clara at beleaguered Benfica. PortuGOAL Figure of the Week João Henriques coached his team superbly once again as the islanders’ excellent form continued.