Second place SC Braga were hoping to unseat Porto at the top-of-the table when they travelled to the Estádio do Dragão but the home side extended their winning run to seven games as Tiquinho Soares slotted home the only goal of the game two minutes from time.
FC Porto’s top scorer last season was Moussa Marega with twenty-two goals and this
campaign, his link-up with Yacine Brahimi has seen him bag three Champions League goals and an assist in just four matches.
The Mali international is thriving under Sérgio Conceição, and with 20-year-old Marius Mouandilmadji waiting in the wings the future looks bright for the reigning league champions.
Rui Vitória’s reign as manager of Benfica is balanced on a knife edge and after failing to beat Ajax at home in the Champions League, a positive result away to Tondela was imperative.
After just sixty seconds it was looking bleak for the Eagles as a Germán Conti own goal gave Tondela the lead.
Benfica hit back through Jonas in the tenth minute to send the teams in level at the break. Shortly after the re-start David Bruno - two yellow cards in the space of three minutes - got his marching orders to reduce Tondela to ten men.
Benfica took advantage of their numerical superiority shortly after the hour mark, when Haris Seferovic had an easy tap in. A quarter-of-an-hour later it was game over as Rafa claimed goal number three.
Tondela ended the game with nine men following Ícaro Silva’s tackle from behind on Rafa Silva five minutes from time. New man in charge at Sporting is Marcel Keizer, formerly at Emirati club Al-Jazira, who has been tasked with leading the Lisbon club back to the glory days.
Nephew of the late Netherlands international and Ajax winger Piet Keizer, a teammate of Johan Cruyff’s during the ‘TotaalVoetball’ days, Keizer’s connection with the golden years of Dutch football runs deep.
With the new boss in attendance, Tiago Fernandes marked the end of his stint as interim coach with a fixture versus point-hungry GD Chaves, currently bottom of the Primeira Liga.
Midway through the first-half Bas Dost headed home to give the Lions the lead. With twenty minutes remaining Chaves midfielder Bruno Gallo received a straight red card for a lunge on Acuña, but this did not deter the visitors who drew level with a moment of magic from Niltinho, when he bent in a shot from range off Renan Ribeiro’s post.
Sporting can count themselves lucky to have been awarded a controversial penalty five minutes from time when William was judged to have impeded Bas Dost.
The Dutchman claimed all three points with another calmly-taken spot-kick as Sporting climbed up to second.