Dal bar vicino casa: 

OGGI, 5 MAGGIO
SONO CHIUSO, SONO TRISTE, SONO ARRABBIATO
NON VOGLIO PARLARE DEL BENFICA

It was December and it looked like Porto was destined to win the Superliga, again. Then Sporting started to lose points with disappointing draws, last one just on Friday against Desportivo das Aves, placed last in the Superliga, when the two teams offered a quite boring performance. After this draw (4th in the last 5 matches), Sporting kept the third place but is now further from the top place, lying 7 points behind Porto.

The battle for the first place is still the same as last week, Porto and Benfica are still separated by 4 points. Benfica is the fittest team of the first part of 2007, giving the impression of being the only one capable of keeping Porto under pressure.

Porto played on Sunday night against Beira-Mar (15th in the Superliga) and won with a powerful 5 -0. Beira-Mar were the first team to create danger to their opponents goal with a long shot from outside the box (16'), stopped on the goal line by Porto's full back Marek Cech. Shortly after, Porto scored their first goal of the evening (18’, Lisandro Lopez). Despite being in front Porto kept the pressure up not allowing Beira-Mar to get close to their box. Although Porto dominated the game, the 2nd goal just came at the 70th minute (Lucho Gonzalez). Porto showed that they wouldn't just control the game now, but they wanted to keep on scoring. And so they did. Scoring two goals in two minutes (Meireles 74’ and Alan 76’) Porto completely solved the game and still had time to add another one (88') by Adriano with a penalty.

Monday night, Benfica played against Paços de Ferreira at Estadio da Luz and had the chance to maintain their distance to Porto and get further away from Sporting. Benfica couldn’t hope for a better start, as on the 8th minute captain Simão scored from a free kick perfectly executed. Benfica were playing well, moving the ball around near their opponent’s box and it was without any surprise that they scored again (Nuno Gomes, at last!) after a great work from the greek midfielder Karagounis on the left side. But Paços de Ferreira showed that they didn't come to watch Benfica play and reduced the disadvantage to one goal just before the break, with the help of Benfica's defence. The second half started with Benfica intensifying the pressure, leaving very little space on the pitch for Paços to extend their game. Finally on the 66th minute Benfica capitalised again after fine move from Miccoli finished by Simâo with an easy header right in front of goal. After the third goal Benfica eased up the pressure and Paços still had two chances, but the ball didn't get into the net.

My highlights:

Quaresma: definitely the Man of "his" match, as every significant action passes from him first. Here in Portugal not everyone likes this guy, he perhaps gives the wrong impression, being arrogant and cocky. But even Benfica fans have to admit he’s the most talented player of the Superliga and watch repeatedly his tricks on tv.

Simao: he scores with a terrific free kick on the left, and then finalizes a brilliant move from Miccoli right in front of the goal. He's Benfica's captain and you can really see why, he seems to be playing at the top of his form and deserves a 92’ change to get a standing ovation.

Stadium Mata Real: Paços de Ferreira – Sporting 1 – 1

Paços de Ferreira obtains a suffered draw, while Sporting wastes a lot in the last 40 meters.
This game could have ended in an easy victory for Sporting, if only its strikers would have taken advantage of the many errors of Paços de Ferreira. Sporting played almost the whole game in the opponent’s penalty box, but somehow the ball didn’t make it through, Sporting’s strikers were not in their best shape.
The best Sporting scorer so far (Liedson, 8 goals) only took the first shot at the goal at the 51st minute. 0 -1 for Sporting thanks to a great pass from the half-way line (Miguel Veloso), which Liedson controlled well and shot with his left foot to the far post. At the 70th minute, the midfielder Cristiano got the ball in the Sporting area and run to the penalty box. Caneira tried his best to defend, but Cristiano's powerful shot hits the net.
The draw didn’t change the dynamics of the game, Sporting kept attacking Paços de Ferreira but the posts, Peçanha (man of the match) and bad luck always returned the ball to the “sender”.
After two games rich in goals (Sporting – Nacional da Madeira 5 – 1 and Pinhalnovense – Sporting 0 - 6) Sporting has to settle for a poor draw. The result is honestly not fair to Sporting but it permits both teams to hold their records: Paços de Ferreira is unbeaten at home since January 27th, 2006 and Sporting doesn't suffer a defeat away since January 6th, 2006.

Stadium Rui Alves: Nacional da Madeira - Benfica 0 - 2

Benfica and Nacional had a good start with Benfica trying to get to the opponent penalty box and Nacional restricting the game in the midfield area. Benfica played with Fabrizio Miccoli starting from the 1st minute with Nuno Gomes.
After a good attack action for Benfica, Rui Costa (ex-AC Milan) had to quit the pitch injured and be substituted by Karagounis (ex-Inter Milan).
The first half of the game ended on a 0 – 0 draw, with both teams having good chances and defending well.
The second half has been a totally different game, with Benfica playing with more confidence. The first goal started with an excellent pass coming from Nélson on the right and Miccoli benefiting from the confusion in the box.
National tried to react, but at the 70th minute Miccoli decided it was time to close the game and regain the 2nd place of the Liga, with an individual action.
This was more or less the end of the game and hopefully the end of all the critics to Miccoli. Since he started his Portuguese adventure, he has been unlucky, suffered a lot of injures and critics, but he rarely let Benfica supporters down.
Once again Nuno Gomes finished the game without getting into the score sheet, the public seems now to be impatient with his lack of composure and accuracy in front of the goal.

After the 18th round, Porto is on top of the Liga with 43 points, Benfica following at 39 points and Sporting at 38.