Friday
Rio Ave 2 Tondela 2
Saturday
Chaves 1 Maritimo 0
Boavista 2 Feirense 0
Aves 0 Braga 2
Sunday
Nacional 0 Setubal 0
Santa Clara 2 Portimonense 1
Sporting 2 Benfica 4
Guimaraes 0 Porto 0
Belenenses SAD 0 Moreirense 1
Standings
1 Porto 50
2 Benfica 47
3 Braga 46
4 Sporting 39
5 Moreirense 34
6 Guimaraes 32
7 Belenenses SAD 29
8 Portimonense 27
9 Rio Ave 25
10 Santa Clara 24
11 Setubal 21
12 Tondela 20
13 Maritimo 20
14 Nacional 20
15 Boavista 19
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16 Aves 18
17 Chaves 18
18 Feirense 14
The big game of the week was Sporting-Benfica, which saw Benfica put on a spectacular effort to win in convincing fashion. Sporting showed some major struggles, which they will want to correct before they face Benfica once again at the Luz on Wednesday for the Portuguese Cup. With a 11 point gap to 1st place Porto, it appears very unlikely that Sporting will be champion this year.
Benfica has made this a race for the championship. The eagles have made it to within 3 points of Porto, who tied Guimaraes in what was a very difficult game for the dragons. With Marega getting injured for Porto, it appears we might have a three-way race restarting for the championship's second half.
It's a three-way race because Braga is only 4 back. The Minhotos have also climbed 7 clear of Sporting to really solidify themselves a clear lead for the podium race. Dyego Sousa continues to lead the league as the leading scorer.
Returning back to Guimaraes, the original Portuguese capital city's team lost 5th place overall to surprise Moreirense. Moreirense defeated Belenenses SAD in the blues borrowed Setubal home. Moreirense is the little team that could of the league, the Cinderella story. They are within 5 of Sporting, and imagine what could have been had they got a result at Alvalade a couple weeks ago.
Also of note, Aves and Chaves have climbed to within 1 point of salvaging relegation. Suddenly, Lito Vidigal's Boavista, despite a victory, are still right in the danger zone. Santa Clara had a HUGE win to keep themselves with some room above water. With 3 points separating 11th through 17th, it will be an ever-changing landscape to see who escapes and remains in the premier division.
Nuno Manta Santos, as we speculated last week, was fired today from Feirense. The Santa Maria da Feira team replaced Santos with second league Mafra coach Filipe Martins. Martins has some work to do, Feirense is 5 back of Boavista to keep themselves up, they must overtake 3 teams to get there.
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