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Central defender Beto, with a neat, curled free-kick ten minutes from time, was the only one who managed to break the deadlock enforced by visiting Madeiran team Marítimo to Alvalade Saturday. Sporting had most of the play and chances, but were unable to make a significant mark on Marítimo's resistance. Also with the majority of play were Boavista at Belenenses, but they came away with just the one point after a 1-1 draw, the same result as earlier in the season. Belenenses were in front midway through the first half, against the run of play, through Hugo Henrique. Early in the second half, Cafú, returning to his old club, headed home a Calvino free-kick from the right. Ten minutes from time, Boavista's Colombian defender Viveros was sent off for a foul on Antchouet, who was breaking through. Struggling Vitória de Guimarães threw themselves a lifeline Friday with a hard-fought 2-1 'home' (at borrowed ground Maia) win against UEFA-chasing Madeiran side Nacional. Vinicius on 25 and Guga on the hour gave Vitória some breathing space, Serginho pulled one back on 68, and until the end, Vitória were on the ropes. But they held out for the precious three points that leave them still in the relegation places but nearer the escape hatch. Boavista dropped another two points at home Monday against Rio Ave in the game that closed Day 23 of the SuperLiga (of 34). Boavista were in front on 21 minutes, Fary crossing from the left for Ricardo Sousa to control superbly in front of goal, draw two defenders and tuck the ball in for his 11th of the season. The Porto club made the mistake from that point on of trying to safeguard the lead, and they ended up shooting themselves in the foot in the dying minutes; sub Martelinho tried to dribble out of defence, lost the ball and Rio Ave netted scrappily through Jaime. Boavista are in a bunch of five teams that can realistically hope for the spare UEFA Cup place. The others are: Sporting Braga, Marítimo, Nacional and Beira-Mar. Rio Ave are looking safe in mid-table. Sporting lost two points in their direct challenge of FC Porto at the top of the SuperLiga when they could only draw 1-1 with Gil Vicente in Barcelos. They were down to a Luís Loureiro penalty after just 18 minutes and suffered with the expulsion early in the second half of Rui Jorge, rugby-tackling Nandinho, through on goal. Sporting drew level on 70 minutes, Carlos Martins scoring from close range. Benfica lost three points in the (ever-more-hopeless) challenge for the title and, more importantly, two points to Sporting in the challenge for a Champions League place. They lost 2-3 at the impressive Nacional of Madeira, who stubbornly insist on giving the big teams shocks. The inevitable Adriano put the Madeirenses in front on 10 minutes, Simão equalised on the half hour and Nuno Gomes gave Benifca the lead on 51 minutes. But within five minutes, Nacional had turned it around the other way through Adriano (his 15th of the season - he is top scorer in the SuperLiga) and captain Gouveia. Nacional are now challenging for a UEFA Cup place. Alverca beat relegation rivals Paços de Ferreira 2-1, all the goals coming in the first half, two of which in the first ten minutes. Fernando Gaúcho put the visitors in front on four minutes, but Bruno Aguiar restored equality five minutes later. On 34 minutes, defender Amoreirinha gave Alverca the three points. Bottom side Estrela da Amadora lost once again, but it took a penalty early in the second half by Gaúcho against his former club to give Marítimo the three points in Madeira. Moreirense and União de Leiria drew 0-0. It's difficult to imagine who is going to stop FC Porto from marching on to the SuperLiga title this season, and it's equally difficult to imagine how Vitória de Guimarães are going to get themselves out of the mess they find themselves in. The two met Saturday. Vitória are second from bottom and fighting for their SuperLiga existence, but Porto brushed them aside 3-0. Maciel got the first on the half hour in a one-on-one with Palatsi, Jankauskas got the second in added time at the break after a flowing counter-attack involving Deco and Maciel, and McCarthy netted from the spot in added time at the end. A topic of incidental interest was how the pitch at the new Estádio do Dragão would play. It had been sown in the autumn but had never taken well, so this week the club ripped it up and laid turf. And it played beautifully, welcome news ahead of Thurday's Champions League clash with Manchester United. In the other SuperLiga game Saturday, something went haywire with Belenenses and lowly Académica appeared to be on something. Académica climbed out of the relegation zone with a whopping 5-0 win at their now bottom-of-the-table rivals. Tonel and Paulo Sérgio in the first half, and Joeano, Flávio Dias and Lucas in the second left their hosts in a state of shock. Os Estudantes are now just a point behind Belenenses, and the Blues will need to come to their senses under new coach Augusto Ignácio if they are to avoid a nervous end to the season. Sporting Braga are getting over a bad run and beat UEFA-spot-chasing rivals Beira-Mar away Friday, 2-0, to change places with them and climb to fourth. Wender on 63 (his ninth of the season) and Igor on 77 got the goals. 20/02/04 FC Porto's Estádio do Dragão should be used for Saturday's game against Vitória de Guimarães after the pitch was lifted and new turf laid following problems with the old turf taking. Should the pitch still not be ready, the match can be switched to the nearby Antas Stadium (the old home of the club) at 24 hours' notice. Belenenses coach Augusto Ignácio returned Monday to Vitória de Guimarães, the club which sacked him earlier in the season, and brought away all the points with a 1-0 win, Hugo Henrique getting the goal a quarter of an hour from the end. The game was played in the town of Maia; Vitória's ground is banned following crowd incidents at the recent game with Boavista. Vitória are looking shaky in penultimate place. Belenenses move up a place to 13th. Alverca caused the surprise of the evening with a 2-1 win at Rio Ave. Ronny put the home side ahead on 21 minutes, but Rodolfo Lima (his ninth of the season) and Alex Afonso turned the result around before the break. Alverca are close on the heels of Belenenses in the flight from relegation. Rio Ave remain ninth. FC Porto got over the last major obstacle on their way to the title Sunday when they drew 1-1 with Benfica at the Luz (see match report). They are now five points ahead of Sporting and remain nine ahead of Benfica. They also won their first piece of silverware of the season: the BES Cup. Sponsored by the Banco Espirito Santo, the cup is awarded to the team with the best record of the Três Grandes when they play against each other: Porto have two wins and two draws. Fourth place Beira-Mar surprisingly went down 1-2 at Paços de Ferreira, themselves needing the points to get clear of the drop zone. Manduca and Fernando Gaúcho got the two first-half goals that knocked the wind out of Beira-Mar's sails, and although João Paulo pegged one back with a quarter of an hour to go, it was too little, too late. Sporting Braga drew level with Beira-Mar on points after a 0-0 draw at home to Marítimo. Nacional of Madeira are having a whale of a time. They beat União de Leiria 1-0 away and climbed to sixth. The inevitable Adriano got his 13th on 57 minutes and becomes the season's top scorer so far. Bottom club Estrela da Amadora got a point at home to Gil Vicente (1-1) but it won't be enough to blow away fears of the drop. Pedro Simões put Estrela in front on ten minutes, Mauro equalised on 50. Académica gave themselves a boost to escape from the bottom of the table Saturday with a 1-0 win at home to Boavista. In a very scrappy game, one goal was enough to separate two equally inept sides; on 65 minutes, Paulo Sérgio, loaned from Sporting, clipped a shot past William's right hand from the edge of the box. In added time, Boavista midfielder André, formerly of Académica and just back from suspension, was sent off for a nasty challenge on Joeano. This was Académica's first win in three months. An off-colour Sporting had to fight hard against a combative Moreirense for a 1-0 win at Alvalade Friday. Brazilian midfielder Rochemback got the single goal on 34 minutes, driving a loose ball through a crowd of players from the edge of the area. Sporting move to within four points of FC Porto and will be hoping for a favourable result in Sunday's clássico between Benfica and Porto. Unusually, the 'favourable' result would be a win for local arch-rivals Benfica. Boavista left it until the dying moments of added time to clinch the three points in a scrappy game at home to Alverca, who had been in front since the 42nd minute, Amoreirinha nudging home a loose ball in the six-yard box from Alverca's first attack. They spent the rest of the game holding onto the lead, while Boavista threw everything at them. But, it must be said, Alverca were defending solidly until added time (for some reason seven minutes) when a free-kick by Ricardo Sousa from the right was glanced in by Luíz Claudio. Then another cross from the right by Filipe Anunciãção was headed home from close range by a falling Fary. Alverca's coach José Couceiro complained about the referee's supposed double standards, but if the truth be told, he can only blame himself for sitting on the narrow lead for all of the second half. The win puts Boavista into fifth, a point behind Beira-Mar, and leaves Alverca still hovering just above the relegation zone. Benfica moved to within two points of Sporting in second place Sunday with a straightforward 2-0 win at neighbours Belenenses, both goals coming in the second half through Sokota and João Perreira. Benfica remain nine points behind FC Porto but meet them at the Luz next Sunday in what will be a crucial six-pointer. Beira-Mar are on their own in fourth place after drawing 1-1 at home to Rio Ave. Wijnhard gave Beira-Mar the lead on nine minutes, but Jaime equalised on 27, and that's the way it stayed. Marítimo climbed to sixth with a 2-0 win over Paços de Ferreira in Madeira. Alan just before the break and Rodrigão on the hour provided the goals. Moreirense dragged themselves further into safety with a single-goal win over bottom club Estrela da Amadora, Sérgio Lomba doing the damage on 19 minutes. Estrela have just 11 points from 21 games and barring a miracle must surely now be down and out. Also at the bottom, Académica slugged out a 1-1 draw with fellow strugglers Vitória de Guimarães in front of 8,000 at the Estádio Municipal de Coimbra. Vitória opened the scoring on just three minutes through Rafael, but Académica got a valuable point on 52 minutes with a penalty by Fábio Felício. Sporting dropped two points to FC Porto Saturday when they drew 3-3 at Nacional of Madeira. Sporting struggled throughout the game but were ahead with a Sá Pinto goal on 38 minutes, but Gouveia equalised on 42. Adriano, who had earlier missed a penalty, put Nacional in front five minutes into the second half, sub Niculae made it level on the hour and another sub, Lourenço, put Sporting in front on 73 minutes. But three minutes from time, Alvarez followed up a shot by Adriano, half saved by Ricardo, to make it 3-3. Earlier in the evening, FC Porto had done their duty by beating União de Leiria 2-1 in the new Estádio do Dragão . They were two-up before the break through Maniche and Maciel, but Freddy made them run for their money with a lob at the back post that beat Vítor Baía hands down a quarter of an hour before the end. A negative note in the game was the atrocious condition of the pitch, which had been left for almost three months to mature but was as bad as the inauguration day, large divots appearing from the off and throughout the game. The Estádio do Dragão will be used for the opening game of Euro 2004 and one of the semi-finals. FC Porto are now seven points ahead of Sporting, and Benfica will be just two points behind their Lisbon rivals if they win at Belenenses Sunday. Gil Vicente opened Day 21 with a 1-0 home win over Sporting Braga, who missed the chance to go fourth. Josiesley Ferreira got the winner, his ninth of the season, on 42 minutes and drags Gil Vicente up into the middle of the table. 06/02/04 Almost three months after the last game there, the new Estádio do Dragão will be the venue for an official match Saturday when FC Porto take on União de Leiria in the Superliga. Porto returned to their old Antas stadium while the pitch at the new one was treated and given time to take hold. Benfica beat Académica 2-0 Tuesday in what was essentially a tribute match in honour of Miklós Fehér. The game was played out in the utmost decorum, without a single yellow card. The first half was a splendid affair, with both sides playing good, open football. It was Benfica, though, who broke the deadlock on 22 minutes, Zahovic glancing a header past Pedro Roma from a deep Petit free-kick. Geovanni, on as sub, made it two on 67 minutes, knocking in a cross from another sub, Alex. Beira-Mar moved up to fourth with a win snatched in the last minute at Alverca Monday. Scoring came late in the game: Wijnhard got his eighth of the season to put the visitors in front on 68 minutes, Ronald Garcia equalised for Alverca five minutes later but Sandro gave the side from Aveiro all the points in added time. Sunday's 'highlight' had been the disgraceful scenes at the Estádio D. Afonso Henriques in Guimarães where local club Vitória drew 1-1 with Boavista. At the end of the game, Vitória's Afonso Martins and Boavista's Éder got into a fight which spread to their team-mates, the directors of the clubs and the crowd, who threw objects at the players, directors and match officials as they left the pitch. Guga had missed a first half penalty for Vitória, Ricardo Sousa had got one (his tenth goal of the season) for Boavista on the hour after himself being fouled by 'keeper Palatsi (who was sent off in the dying moments for a second yellow), and Rafael had equalised with a header five minutes later. Rio Ave are on a roll. They beat difficult side Marítimo 2-1 with goals either side of half-time by Valente and Evandro , his ninth of the season. Dinda got a consolation for the Madeirenses a minute from time. Belenenses let victory slip from their grasp in added time at União de Leiria, Freddy cancelling out an Antchouet goal scored on 64 minutes. A worrying aspect of the game was the terrible state of the pitch at the Leiria Municipal Stadium, one of those to be used at Euro 2004. Paços de Ferreira are determined to drag themselves out of trouble and did themselves a power of good with a see-saw 3-2 win at home to Gil Vicente. Zé Manuel opened and closed their account, and in between, Pinheiro (own goal) and Yuri replied for Gil. Manduca got Paços' other goal. Brazilian striker Adriano got his 11th of the season on 22 minutes to give Madeiran side Nacional all the points at bottom club Estrela da Amadora, looking increasingly doomed with just 11 points from 20 games, six points from safety. Day 20 is completed Tuesday with Benfica v Académica, postponed to allow Benfica to be at Miklós Fehér's funeral in Hungary. No change at the top, with Sporting and FC Porto sharing the points in a tense but relatively civilised 1-1 draw at Alvalade (see match reports). Porto complained of Sporting striker Liedson's exaggeration of the treatment he got from the Porto defenders, but could not really complain about the final result, given the balance of play. Porto remain unbeaten and five points ahead of Sporting. Sporting's João Pinto tumbled into the advertising hoardings late in the second half and dislocated his shoulder. He may be out of action for several weeks. While the Porto players were distracted with the injury, Sporting took a quick throw-in that led to the penalty and Sporting's equaliser. Porto's coach José Mourinho was incensed: "As far as I'm concerned, and after what I saw in this game [he was very critical of Liedson's attitude], all I want to do is ask the president to let me leave at the end of the season, a long way away from here."
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