Portuguese Football in English
Braga reclaimed second spot in the Primeira Liga after a deserved 1-0 win against Gil Vicente. The Warriors dominated the match in Barcelos with Vitinha denied by Stanislav Kritsyuk on three occasions.
The in-form striker would play a part in the breakthrough however, setting up Iuri Medeiros who scored the decisive goal in the 67th minute.
The result sees Ivo Vieira’s side slump to a fourth straight league defeat, unable to climb out of the relegation play-off position.
Casa Pia have climbed back into the Primeira Liga top four after a 66th-minute Saviour Godwin goal secured a route past Rio Ave at home, defeating the Vilacondenses 1-0.
The newly-promoted side took advantage of Sporting’s slip-up away to Arouca to reinstate their one-point-lead over the Lions, as results around them also went their way.
Boavista scuppered the chance to get in amongst it after drawing 2-2 at home to Vizela, meanwhile Portimonense’s stalemate against Estoril gave Casa Pia the green light to scale up the table.
Benfica fans are in dreamland. Coming hot on the heels of qualifying for the knockout stages of the Champions League in fine style in midweek, the Lisbon outfit benefited from a perfect set of results from their point of view on Saturday to consolidate their position at the summit of the Primeira Liga.
Braga suffered an unlucky 1-0 defeat against Union Berlin in a match with few chances at Stadion An der Alten Försterei.
The decisive moment came in the 66th minute. Fabiano was ruled to have handled the ball in the box, Robin Knoche stepping up and beating Matheus from the penalty spot.
The Portuguese club went close in the 88th minute when Frederik Rønnow spilled Ricardo Horta’s free kick over the bar, little going their way in a game to forget.
The result sees the Bundesliga leaders overtake Braga and climb into second spot in Group D with one match remaining.
Sporting Clube de Portugal held on to secure an important 1-1 draw against Tottenham in the Chamipons League.
Paulinho went going close to opening the scoring before Marcus Edwards netted against his former club, going on a solo run and slotting into the bottom corner.
Spurs started the second half on the front foot but were unable to capitalise, Flávio Nazinho spurning two great chances to double Sporting’s advantage.
They proved to be costly, Rodrigo Bentancur equalising in the 80th minute before Harry Kane’s added time winner was ruled out after a lengthy delay resulted in the VAR ruling him a centimetre offside.
PortuGOAL’s Matthew Marshall reports from Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
