Tuesday provided us with action from the current second and third placed teams in the league. Here are the results from the day:
Portimonense 0 Chaves 1
Benfica 5 Boavista 1 Braga 1 Santa Clara 0
Portimonense took a difficult loss on and off the pitch on Tuesday, losing at home 1-0 to last place Chaves and revealing that Nakajima will not return to the team and has been sold. This home loss to Chaves does not bode well for a run at a European place. And losing Nakajima may just be the nail in the coffin for the Algarve team. Chaves, meanwhile, have their biggest win of the year, moving ahead of Feirense and into the penultimate position. With this win, Chaves keeps pace with Aves ahead of them and move themselves closer to avoiding relegation. The relegation is intensifying with half the season pretty much still to go.
Benfica took a convincing win over Boavista at home. Benfica looked like a team poised to take it to Porto for the rest of the season, and they will need to be good as they have many difficult games remaining including their next one against Sporting. Bruno Lage has done a phenomenal job since taking over for Rui Vitoria, and it should be quite a thriller to see how they do against Sporting on Saturday. Boavista on the other hand appear to be headed in the opposite direction. Since the team's return to the league, they have avoided relegation. This year they look to be in the heat of the battle. Hopefully Lito Vidigal will help the team's performance because today showed the team needs to play better to stay in the top division.
Braga kept pace in third place with a 1-0 home victory over Santa Clara. Braga needed that win to keep on track and show they are a true contender for the championship. Santa Clara has faded from a European spot battle to being truly part of the relegation fight. Things have really been a struggle for the Azorean squad, as things are not good. Santa Clara does look like a better team on the road for some odd reason.
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