Guimarães defeat Sporting to go third

Vitória SC moved into third place in the Portuguese Liga with a 2-0 home win against Sporting Clube de Portugal.

Lisbon woe
Goals right at the end of each half from Henrique Sereno and Fajardo consigned the Lisbon outfit to their sixth defeat of the season and they now lie fifth in the table. Sporting also had Leandro Grimi sent off six minutes from time for a foul which resulted in a penalty, but Rui Patrício saved from Alan. SL Benfica, the Lions' city rivals, did not fare much better and could only draw 2-2 at home against UD Leiria. Paulo César opened the scoring for the away side two minutes before half-time but Benfica reacted quickly after the break, Marc Zoro equalising on 51 minutes after latching on to a Rui Costa cross. Paraguay striker Óscar Cardozo then made it 2-1 five minutes later with a free kick but Leiria hit back to salvage a point through Serge Ngal 20 minutes from time.

Porto march on
Second-placed Benfica are now only two points ahead of Guimarães and 14 behind FC Porto after the Portuguese champions won 1-0 at home against A. Académica de Coimbra. Jesualdo Ferreira's team had a comfortable evening in defence and Ricardo Quaresma created the decisive moment, firing home from outside the penalty area after 31 minutes. Elsewhere, A. Naval 1° Maio enjoyed a 2-1 home win over Leixões SC.