Another week in the books and each week that passes we are guaranteed one thing: the championship battle is a two-horse race!
Here are the championship results are standings at Week 23:
Braga 0 Belenenses SAD 2
Tondela 0 Porto 3
Feirense 1 Moreirense 3
Portimonense 1 Aves 1
Setubal 1 Guimaraes 1
Santa Clara 2 Nacional 0
Boavista 1 Rio Ave 0
Maritimo 0 Sporting 0
Benfica 4 Chaves 0
Standings
1. Porto 57
2. Benfica 56
3. Braga 49
4. Sporting 46
5. Moreirense 41
6. Guimaraes 36
7. Belenenses SAD 33
8. Santa Clara 30
9. Rio Ave 28
10. Portimonense 28
11. Boavista 26
12. Maritimo 24
13. Setubal 23
14. Tondela 23
15. Nacional 23
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16. Aves 22
17. Chaves 19
18. Feirense 14
Porto and Benfica have isolated themselves from Braga and Sporting, and every week pull away and create a situation where this upcoming weekend's match at the Dragao will be huge in deciding a champion.
Let's start Week 23 with Tondela-Porto, where Porto returned to their previous form and defeated Tondela on the road 3-0. With many players missing, including Eder Militao who was suspended for partying the night before and breaking curfew, Porto showed heart and that they have had the best team overall since the start of the championship. They seem ready for the upcoming challenge.
Benfica, meanwhile, defeated Chaves 4-0. Another dominant effort by the team in red, who have been in incredible form since firing Rui Vitoria. The true test will come next week against Porto, where Benfica will have to play away and attempt to take the championship lead back. This should be a great game!
Braga has faded in the last two weeks, falling 8 points behind Porto for the championship lead. This is a big gap and it's safe to say Braga won't recover this distance on the top two to win the championship. Their focus must turn to preventing Sporting from overtaking them for third.
Sporting sees a hope in reaching third place with the Braga loss, however the lions were unable to tighten the gap more than they wanted to, drawing away against Maritimo. But if the head-to-head matchup against Braga was any indication, Sporting could take over the third spot especially with no more European concerns.
Moreirense has clawed to within 5 points of Sporting for 4th place overall, an incredible result for the team coached by Ivo Vieira. The team beat Feirense away 3-1, and this CInderella story continues to be the talk of the Portuguese league, and the team has nothing to lose since their initial goal of not being relegated is no longer relevant, given the team is competing for a European spot.
Guimaraes has been playing some disappointing soccer as of late, surprising with Luis Castro showing such promise early on. Guimaraes needs to get things together in order to get Moreirense for 5th. That gap is now 5 points! And Belenenses SAD closed to within 3 with a great win on the road against Braga. This battle for 5th may tighten once again, but only if Moreirense allows it to.
Now, to the relegation battle. We start with the 8th place team and down to discuss this fight. Santa Clara got a huge home win against Nacional to pull away from a battle where just a couple weeks ago looked like they were headed. Two consecutive wins have put Santa Clara at 30, but just imagine if they hadn't turned things around: they would be at 24 points and in the heart of the relegation battle! Suddenly, things have calmed.
Rio Ave and Portimonense, however, despite being ahead of this lower battle for most of the season, are only 6 points ahead of Aves. It's quite shocking that both these teams are this close to the bottom. Rio Ave invested some money this season with the additions of Fabio Coentrao and recently Ruben Semedo. This team should be higher, and every year they are higher on paper. It's a bit puzzling to see this, and as good as they are things should turn around a bit soon. Portimonense had the revelation team of the early championship, but since selling players like Manafa and Nakajima they have faded from a 5th place battle. This team has been trekking downward, and if they continue like this the 6 point gap will only shrink.
While the teams at 28 points are headed in the wrong direction, Boavista has been moving in the right direction since Lito Vidigal took over. It's important to note Boavista was in a relegation position when Vidigal joined the team. The team was playing some poor soccer and not looking like a team that would stay up. Since Vidigal took over, this team has moved 4 points clear of 16th and the Benfica loss appears to have awoken the checkered shirts to stay up. But nothing to celebrate yet: 4 points isn't much!
Maritimo obtained a huge draw against Sporting to move one point ahead of the trio behind them: Tondela, Setubal and Nacional. Every point is important, and Maritimo is certainly not a club used to being this near the bottom. Look for them to make a push forward. Tondela, on the other hand, is trending in the opposite direction. A disappointing loss to Porto where they never looked in the game showed that Pepa's days with the club may be numbered. Since defeating Sporting, Tondela has been moving closer to the lower end of the field. Nacional, meanwhile, must get back to their form last week, albeit against the lowly Feirense. Nacional can't play like it did against Benfica, and must give more of a fight and steal points if it is to remain up. Same goes with Setubal, who did get a difficult point against Guimaraes.
Now to below the line. Augusto Inacio's team tied 1-1 in a game at the Algarve against Portimonense. Any points for a team battling relegation are good, but you would think Aves wanted more from this match. Expect Aves to be in this race the whole way down the stretch with 11 games to go. They are 1 point away from safety, this is still very attainable.
Chaves is now 4 points back of safety, but the good news is they have now faced the top 3 in the championship, and may have some winnable games down the stretch where they can claw back the distance. The team can't hold their heads down, defeating Benfica was always going to be difficult. And to conclude with the bottom team, Feirense appear to have just lost their way. Unless they go on an extremely good run, they look like they're out of the running: a 9 point gap may be hard to make up, especially considering they must jump 3 teams to remain up.
Next week, it's the Classico! Porto vs Benfica for all the marbles! While this may not decide the championship, it will certainly help us see where each team stands right now. Both teams have European encounters coming up as well, so it should be interesting to see their strategies.
Among the other important matches, Braga travels to Rio Ave after two difficult losses in a row, and Sporting plays Portimonense at home. This may be an opportunity for Sporting to tighten the third place race.
Guimaraes will need to defeat Maritimo to get themselves closer to Moreirense, who have a winnable game at home versus Setubal. The relegation battle games will be crucial as well, with Aves at home versus Boavista, Nacional at home to struggling Tondela, and Chaves at home needing 3 points versus Santa Clara.
Week 24 Matches
Fri. Mar 1, 3:30pm: Aves vs Boavista
Sat. Mar 2, 10:30am: Nacional vs Tondela
Sat. Mar 2, 1pm: Moreirense vs Setubal
Sat. Mar 2, 3:30pm: Porto vs Benfica (Game of the Week)
Sun. Mar 3, 10am: Chaves vs Santa Clara
Sun. Mar 3, 10am: Belenenses SAD vs Feirense
Sun. Mar 3, 12:30pm: Rio Ave vs Braga
Sun. Mar 3, 3pm: Sporting vs Portimonense (RTPi)
Mon. Mar 4, 3:15pm: Guimaraes vs Maritimo
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