Tondela were rightly aggrieved when Sporting snatched a very late winner in the ninth minute of stoppage time after the fourth official had indicated just four minutes! Portimonense continued their recent impressive form with a third win in four games.
FC Porto, still reeling from their 5-0 Champions League defeat at home to Liverpool, could not have got off to a better start against Rio Ave. In the second minute Sérgio Oliveira stormed his side into a 1-0 lead with a well-placed low drive from outside the box.
Soares made it two with a header off the underside of the bar midway through the first-half before Moussa Marega, with the aid of a Marcelo deflection, grabbed the third ten minutes before the break.
Moussa Marega made full use of the space afforded him to head in Alex Telles’ free-kick at the near-post in the seventy-second minute.
Soares got his second late on to give Sergio Conceição’s team a comfortable 5-0 victory ahead of their half-game in hand versus Estoril as the paper went to press. Benfica welcomed back the injured Jonas for the visit of Boavista but the prolific striker, 90 goals in 104 appearances, missed the opportunity to add to the total when keeper Vagner saved his fifteenth minute penalty.
But just three minutes later Ruben Dias nodded home the opening goal for the Eagles thanks to a Jardel assist. From a corner centre-back Jardel doubled the lead shortly before the break when he towered above the ‘Black Panthers’ defence to head home. A second-half own goal and a stoppage time tap in by Raúl Jiménez completed the 4-0 rout.
The epic journey to Astana (Kazakhstan) – equivalent to twenty-three trips from Lisbon to Porto – resulted in a 3-1 victory for Sporting in their first-leg Europa Cup game.
To be playing a Primeira Liga just four later was bound to take its toll and there was no surprise when Tondela took an early lead as Miguel Cardoso beat Rui Patricio at the near post. Sporting fought back to level midway through the half as Bas Dost returned to action with a trademark headed goal. Thirteen minutes after break Sporting were reduced to ten men when Matthieu picked up two yellows in the space of six minutes.
Drama erupted as Sebastian Coates thrashed home the winner in the ninth minute of added-on time despite four minutes being displayed by the fourth official. Even a stoppage for an injury could in no way make up for the added time and Tondela were fuming as the final whistle went with Murilo being shown a red card for his protestations.
Portimonense won their third game in four outings with a 3-1 victory at Feirense.
A main contributor to the Portimão team’s success has been top scorer Fabrício who has found the back of the net six times in those games including a hat-trick against Rio Ave.
The 27 year-old Brazilian was voted the Primeira Liga best midfielder for January and will be presented with the award at the home game against league leaders FC Porto on Sunday evening.