Porto see off Sporting

By Hugo Pietra & Carlos Machado

FC Porto defeated Sporting Clube de Portugal 3-0 in Monday night's 'clássico', but SL Benfica remained a point clear at the top of the Portuguese SuperLiga after beating Vitória FC 4-0.

Benfica delight
Azar Karadas opened the scoring for Benfica on Sunday with a 31st-minute header and Tomislav Šokota doubled the lead five minutes after the restart. Geovanni added the third on 71 minutes before Simão Sabrosa completed the scoring late on. Benfica's victory was marred by injury to striker Nuno Gomes, who was substituted in the 22nd minute after spraining his knee and is out for several weeks.

Porto triumph
Unbeaten Porto went back to within a point of Benfica a day later with a comprehensive victory. Porto took until the 57th minute to open the scoring as Costinha's header fell for Benni McCarthy to shoot in. Diego and Carlos Alberto struck in the last ten minutes to confirm a comprehensive win that leaves Sporting in seventh. The only downside for Porto was that defender Ricardo Costa had to be replaced with a muscular injury.

Marítimo held
CS Marítimo, who began the weekend level on points with Benfica, fell to third as they were held 1-1 at Vitória SC on Saturday. Gustavo Manduca put the Madeiran side ahead on seven minutes, but Attila Dragóner drew Vitória level two minutes after the restart and Marítimo's Evaldo was later sent off.

Boavista joy
Also on Saturday, Boavista FC returned to winning ways at the Estádio do Bessa with a 2-1 victory over FC Penafiel. Zé Manuel scored two penalties for the home side, the second in added time, after Clayton had given Penafiel a 33rd-minute lead.

Braga in form
Early goals from Jaime and Vítor Castanheira and a second-half strike by João Tomás earned SC Braga a 3-0 home win against Rio Ave FC to take them up to sixth, two points above Estoril Praia who triumphed 2-1 away to Moreirense SC, for whom Sérgio Lomba was sent off. Domingos Fernando put Moreirense ahead on 41 minutes but late goals from Dorival and Yuri turned the game.

Krpan winner
CD Nacional drew 0-0 with bottom-side Gil Vicente FC, and A. Académica de Coimbra were beaten 1-0 at home by UD Leiria. Petar Krpan got the only goal after just two minutes for Leiria, who later had Fábio Felício sent off.

Antchouet hat-trick
On Friday, CF Os Belenenses drew 3-3 with SC Beira-Mar. Henri Antchouet scored a hat-trick for the Lisbon side while Tanque Silva (two) and Djalmir Heitor hit back for Beira-Mar.