• Benfica
• Primeira Liga,
• Sporting,
• Sporting de Braga,
• Belenenses

With the last international break now behind us, it was time for a Primeira Liga outfits up and down Portugal to rev their engines ahead of the final seven-game dash towards the end of the season, with many tales still to be revealed along the way.

The first of which came at the Estádio da Luz, where a Jonas brace positioned Benfica to reclaim top-spot in a 2-0 victory over Vitória de Guimarães, last Saturday. Later in the night, Sporting’s view of the title was eclipsed by their new tussle for third place, as Raul Silva’s late goal moved Braga to within a point of the Lions, while also all but ending the Lisbon club’s hopes of winning the Liga NOS.

On Monday night FC Porto would succumb to an even bigger shock away to Belenenses, as a 2-0 loss - only their second league defeat of the season - allowed the four-time champions Benfica to rise to the summit of the league table with a one-point advantage over the Dragons with six matches left to play.

In Part 4 of PortuGOAL’s look at the Campeonato de Portugal Prio season review, we’re heading into Série D territory. And that means taking a trip to the beautiful national capital, Lisbon, and its surrounds. There is also the southern Leiria region (home of this season’s Taça de Portugal giant slayers, Caldas) and the Atlantic island chain of the Azores.

Despite being some 950 miles (1,446 km) from Lisbon, the Azores have two clubs present in Série D - Praiense and Lusitânia - with another two in Série E (more on that next week). It ensures each club a good supply of air miles throughout the season but can also prove a logistical nightmare for some as we’ll see later in this article.

Campeonato de Portugal Prio - Série C

Week 3 of the CPP series sees us move yet further south on the Portuguese mainland and into Série C territory. It would be slight misnomer for me to refer only to the Portuguese mainland of course. There is also representation from Madeira in the form of Marítimo B which ensures that those from the Castelo Branco, Viseu, Coimbra and northern Leiria regions get the chance of a trip south to within almost touching distance of the North African coast.

Unlike last week’s article on Série B, there is a little less of a competitive nature about the top of this division. That said, there is all to play for regarding the runner’s up spot that could take a club into the promotional play-offs as one of the best three runner’s-up. And at the other end, there is much to play for with several clubs trying to avoid the dreaded trapdoor into regional football.

It was a routine weekend for Portugal’s “Big 3” as Porto, Benfica and Sporting all recorded comfortable 2-0 victories, but one side that continue to catch the eye and look to break into the aforementioned group is Abel Ferreira’s Braga.

They arguably turned in the best performance of the round with an emphatic 4-1 win away at Chaves, and the star of the show was a talented player who has shown considerable improvements in the past few games. Ricardo Horta is PortuGOAL’s Figure of the Week.