Another dramatic week in Liga NOS saw the title race take another intriguing twist with league leaders Porto losing their unbeaten status with a surprise loss to Paços de Ferreira, meaning Lisbon rivals Benfica and Sporting were able to close the gap at the top.

One of the more action-packed games of the weekend though saw an often goal-shy Marítimo overcome Vitória Setúbal in a six-goal thriller at Estádio dos Barreiros.

Portuguese attacker Ricardo Valente was the star man with two goals and an assist, and he is PortuGOAL’s Figure of the Week.

• Benfica
• Primeira Liga,
• Sporting,
• FC Porto,

Benfica moved a step closer to dethroning Primeira Liga leaders FC Porto, following the latter’s shock defeat (the first loss for Porto this season in the league) to Paços de Ferreira at the Mata Real, last Sunday.

Having done their bit in beating Desportivo das Aves 2-0 at home on Saturday night, the Eagles watched on as a Miguel Vieira opener and Mário Felgueiras’ penalty heroics combined to hand Porto a 1-0 loss on Sunday, with the advantage at the top now trimmed to two points.

The Dragons’ slip-up also offered a glimmer of hope to Sporting, who cut the gap from third place back down to five points, thanks to Bas Dost’s double in a 2-1 win away to Chaves.

Sporting 2-0 Viktoria Plzen

Sporting took a step closer to the Europa League quarter-finals tonight with a 2-0 win over Czech outfit Viktoria Plzen.

The Lisbon side were far the superior team for most of the match, with only some excellent goalkeeping by Ales Hruska preventing Sporting from wrapping up the tie in the first leg.

That said, Plzen were not far away from grabbing a precious away goal in the second half, the Czechs have an excellent record at home in Europe and with William and Coates both suspended for the second leg Sporting would do well not to count their chickens just yet.