Portugal round-up: Porto back to winning ways

FC Porto recovered from their midweek European setback with a 2-0 home win against UD Leiria that preserved their 13-point advantage at the top of the Portuguese First Division.

Fine start
Having suffered a 1-0 home defeat at the hands of Panathinaikos FC in the UEFA Cup quarter-final first leg, Porto enjoyed the perfect start to the game, as Russian attacking midfield player Dmitri Aleinitchev found himself alone in the penalty area to convert a Marco Ferreira cross after 17 minutes.

Decisive second
The home team sealed the three points ten minutes from time, as Brazilian midfield player Deco followed up his blocked shot to score from inside the Leiria penalty area.

Resounding win
SL Benfica remained in second place following a comfortable 4-1 win at Clube Académica de Coimbra on Saturday. Armando Sa opened the scoring for the away side after 12 minutes, scoring from Simão Sabrosa's perceptive through-ball, who then somewhat fortuitously doubled the lead five minutes later with a misdirected cross.

Miguel on target
It was 3-0 on the stroke of half-time as Miguel scored from Geovanni's pass. Académica pulled a goal back ten minutes into the second period with a deflected shot from captain Dario, before Benfica made it 4-1 shortly before the final whistle as substitute José Manuel Pinto headed a Zlatko Zahovic free-kick into the net.

Sporting stifled
Champions Sporting Clube de Portugal lost more ground on the top two as they were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Boavista FC despite taking the lead after five minutes as Mario Jardel converted a penalty he had won after being fouled by Boavista defender Paulo Turra, who was shown the red card. However, the away side recovered quickly from the early setback and were level 15 minutes later as midfield player Jocivalter combined with Silva to score.

Narrow victory
Vitória Guimarãres consolidated fourth place with a narrow 1-0 win at Varzim SC thanks to Rafael's solitary strike, while Gil Vicente FC were held to a 0-0 draw at SC Braga and the game between FC Paços de Ferreira and CS Marítimo also finished goalless.

Second-half fightback
At the other end of the table, Moreirense FC recovered from Verona's early goal to turn the match around after half-time and gain three important points against CF Os Belenensese with second-half strikes from Demétrios, Vítor Pereira and Afonso Martins completing a 3-1 win, while Belenenses had Carlos Sousa dismissed.

Valuable points
CD Nacional could only draw 2-2 with Vitória Setúbal despite twice taking the lead, while CD Santa Clara's struggle against relegation received an important boost with a valuable 3-1 victory against bottom side SC Beira-Mar, with midfield player Tucho scoring twice.