After nine straight fixtures of a top two mirroring act, complications away to Sporting de Braga has seen FC Porto change the scenery in the foot race for the title.

Benfica did their bit early ahead of the Easter weekend with a 3-0 win at home to Marítimo, with Sporting repeating their neighbours’ dosage when visiting Vitória de Setúbal, also on Friday night.

Porto were next on the agenda but, having gone a goal down and veering dangerously close to conceding a second to Braga, a 1-1 draw would be all the Dragons could get from the Estádio Municipal de Braga, subsequently falling three points behind league leaders Benfica.

The sole point dividing Benfica and FC Porto at the top of the Liga NOS table continues to weather the storm, but for how long was the question on everyone’s lips following the pair’s 1-1 draw at the Estádio da Luz last week.

First up in the upper echelons of the league table was the emblematic clash between Porto, at home, versus Belenenses, as Nuno Espírito Santo sought to get back to winning ways.

Few victories spell ‘back on track’ quite as well as a 3-0 win, supplemented by goals from Danilo Pereira, Yacine Brahimi and Tiquinho Soares, to take the Dragons to the top of the table momentarily.

Sporting’s Bas Dost was intent on stealing the spotlight with yet another dash of goals, this time bagging three in the Lions’ 4-0 victory versus Boavista, but Benfica’s 1-0 win at the hands of Moreirense 24 hours later restored the scenario that’s now headlined the title race for months.

The second leg of the Portuguese Cup semi-finals are played this midweek, with a place in the traditional showpiece finale to the domestic season at the Jamor National Stadium at stake. 

On Tuesday, on the northern tip of Portugal, Chaves will attempt to overturn a 2-0 deficit from the first leg against Vitória Guimarães, while on Wednesday Benfica defend a 2-1 lead against Estoril in Lisbon.

As in the first-leg matches, PortuGOAL have teamed up with oz.com to offer full HD live streaming of the semi-finals for Portuguese football fans around the world.

In a new feature with partners VSPORTS, video highlights of the top matches and the best action from Portugal’s Primeira Liga is now included in PortuGOAL’s articles.

Watch Marítimo’s stunning comeback at Braga in a 3-3 thriller and the two goals of the week, magnificent long-range strikes by Vitória Setúbal’s João Amaral and Edinho.

As for the action at the top of the table, after Satruday’s exciting 1-1 draw between Benfica and FC Porto, Sporting’s away trip to Arouca contained its own sense of intrigue, largely down to the tunnel fracas of the reverse fixture.

Despite going a goal down, two strikes in quick succession from Alan Ruiz and Bruno César kept the Lisbon outfit’s good run of results going.