Sporting fans were expecting a goal-fest against bottom side Tondela after the Lions had scored nine goals in their previous two games.
But they were in for a shock when, after half-an-hour, a through ball from Randall Oto’o Zué found Nathan Júnior clear through on goal. Rui Patrício appeared to bring the forward down inside the area and referee Luís Ferreira immediately pointed to the spot.
Patrício got his marching orders and club president Bruno de Carvalho soon followed for protesting vociferously. Nathan then made no mistake against Sporting’s second choice goalkeeper Marcelo Boeck, converting his penalty and ensuring a 1-0 lead for Tondela at the interval.
Sporting replaced the below par William Carvalho with Gelson Martins and seven minutes after the break Slimani fired 10-man Sporting back into the game with a shot deflected in by Tondela’s Tikito.
Sporting’s second goal, their historic 5,000th, came as Gelson fired a volley past Tondela’s English-born goalkeeper Matt Jones. Tondela still had enough fuel in the tank to snatch a draw with five minutes remaining.
Substitute Salva Chamorro, he had only been on the pitch for two minutes, smashed his shot low through Boeck’s legs. Benfica made the short journey to Estoril and the Eagles immediately bore down on Pawel Kieszek’s goal with Jonas hitting the post in the seventh minute.
But it was the hosts who struck first after ten minutes through Leo Bonatini as the ex-Juventus striker met Anderson Luís’ cross to volley past Júlio César and into the far corner for his tenth goal of the season.
At the interval Benfica replaced Raul with Greek striker Mitroglou and his deflected shot made it 1-1 after fifty-two minutes. Fifteen minutes later, in a move that saw Benfica switch the play from right to left, Jonas slipped in Pizzi who made up for an initial poor first touch with a low drive past Estoril’s Polish goalkeeper Kieszek.
In the seventy-fourth minute Jonas came close to adding to his goal tally of eighteen in the league, but another save from Kieszek ensured that Benfica fans would face a nervous last ten minutes before celebrating a narrow victory that saw them close the gap to within two points of league leaders Sporting.
FC Porto’s temporary boss Rui Barros, in charge for the third time since the departure of Julen Lopetegui, saw his side stunned by Guimarães when they scored the only goal of the game after just four minutes.
A volley deflected high in the direction of Porto’s goal was inexplicably dropped by Spanish international keeper Iker Casillas and followed up by Bouba Saré. Porto came close to the equaliser in the fifteenth minute when Corona’s saved shot found its way to André André on the edge of the box, but his shot skimmed the outside of the post.
The home side put up the shutters in the second-half as Porto struggled to level the score.
With 68 minutes on the clock, Yacine Brahimi failed to get his shot on target from a Maxi Pereira cross in what was one of the few chances that the visitors managed to create. Porto now trail second placed Benfica by three points and see the gap between them and the league leaders increase to five points.
After the game Guimarães manager Sérgio Conceição, who was strongly tipped to take over at the Dragon Stadium, refused to comment on his future.
FC Porto’s new boss is 55-year-old José Peseiro who managed Sporting when they reached the 2005 UEFA Cup Final which the Lisbon club lost to CSKA Moscow, 3–1.
Peseiro also managed SC Braga in the 2012/13 season.