On the Sunday evening FC Porto were sunk in the middle of the Atlantic as they lost 1-0 in Madeira apparently all but throwing away their chances of catching Benfica at the top of the table.
But a day later, the reigning champions missed the chance to build a formidable nine point lead at the top of the table as Jorge Jesus’s men also went down by the same 1-0 score line at Paços de Ferreira.
The big winners were Sporting, whose single-goal win at home to Académica gives the Lions hope of re-joining the title race.
FC Porto went into the match against Marítimo on the back of four straight league wins and The Dragons completely dominated the match, especially in the second-half, creating enough chances to have won it several times over.
But it was Bruno Gallo’s expertly executed volley that gave the islanders a half-time lead.
After the break the visitors showed more urgency and incisiveness in attack but when the excellent Marítimo goalkeeper, Salin, was not denying the visitors, it was the woodwork or goal-line clearances that kept the lead intact as the Madeira club beat the Dragons for the second successive season.
Sporting’s impressive eight match winning run in all competitions had come to an end at Belenenses in midweek in the
Taça da Liga (League Cup), and although the club was using a team made up of B-team and youth players in that competition, the setback seemed to have a knock-on effect as the Lions struggled to find their fluency against Paulo Sérgio’s struggling Académica.
With fifteen minutes remaining it was Japanese striker Tanaka who saw his powerful header brilliantly saved by Académica goalkeeper Lee but João Mário reacted sharply to head the rebound into the corner of the net and earn Sporting all three points.
Benfica may have lost only once in the whole of the first half of the season, but in the very first game of the Segunda Volta, the Eagles were put to the sword by Paços de Ferreira.
Benfica started brightly and missed two golden opportunities to take an early lead, first the normally lethal Jonas spurning a chance from close range, then Lima crashing a penalty against the bar, with justice done in the latter case given that the penalty award was harsh in the extreme. After surviving the first twenty minutes, Paços started to get a foothold in the match and chances appeared at both ends of the pitch.
Benfica’s opportunities were more plentiful, with both Salvio’s deflected cross and Lima’s shot coming back off the woodwork, while for the home side Cicero forced a good save out of Júlio César. Just when it appeared a goalless draw was on the cards Eliseu’s clumsy challenge on Hurtado led to an obvious penalty, which Sérgio Oliveira smashed home.
In a weekend of surprising results, fourth-placed Vitória Guimarães were held 2-2 at home by bottom club Gil Vicente and even had to come from two goals down to snatch the equaliser in the last minute of stoppage time when André André scored from the penalty spot.
Another top-six team, SC Braga, made the short trip to Boavista and lost 1-0 with Uchebo scoring the only goal.