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29 October 2007, by Sean Gillen

   Portuguese abroad weekly roundup

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England - Premiership

Nani cannonball

Nani scored his second goal of the season for Manchester United on Saturday against Middlesbrough, hitting another long-range effort at Old Trafford as the champions made it eight wins in a row in the league with a 4-1 victory. Cristiano Ronaldo also played the full ninety minutes for the Red Devils.

Chelsea are also running into good form, the Blues hammering high-flying Manchester City 6-0 at Stamford Bridge with Paulo Ferreira and Ricardo Carvalho in defence. Pedro Mendes started and played the full ninety minutes of Portsmouth’s 0-0 home draw with West Ham, which could easily have gone the home side’s way but Benjani missed a last-minute penalty. Luis Boa Morte played the full match for the Hammers.

New Bolton Wanderers manager Gary Megson left Ricardo Vaz Te out of his first squad as the north-west side drew 1-1 at home with Aston Villa. Nuno Valente was not included in the Everton squad for the Toffees’ 2-0 win at Derby County.

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France - Ligue 1

Pauleta brace

Pedro Pauleta further staked his claim for a first team berth at Paris Saint-Germain after coming off the bench to score two goals in his team’s 3-2 home defeat to Lyon. Marco Ramos came on for the final twenty minutes of Lens’ 2-1 home defeat to Rennes at the Felix-Bollaert on Sunday evening.

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Germany - Bundesliga

German champions Stuttgart finally secured a much-needed win at home against Bayer Leverkusen, with suspended captain Fernando Meira missing the match. Hugo Almeida failed to continue his good recent goalscoring form, with the Portugal striker missing a couple of good chances in Werder Bremen’s 1-1 draw at Schalke.

Sergio Pinto started but was replaced with five minutes remaining of Hannover’s 0-0 draw at Frankfurt. Alex Domingos was not in the Wolfsburg squad, while Ricardo Costa is still a couple of weeks away from fitness, as their team beat Nurnberg 3-1 at home.

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Italy - Serie A

Tiago continues to struggle

Luis Figo was an unused substitute for champions Inter during their goalless draw away at Palermo on Sunday. The result gave second place Roma the chance to close the gap and, with no Vitorino Antunes in the squad, the side from the capital pulled of an impressive 1-0 win over European champions Milan at the San Siro.

Another bad weekend for Tiago saw him reduced to playing just the final five minutes as Juventus crashed to a 3-1 defeat at Napoli on Saturday evening. Fernando Couto’s Parma moved up to fifteenth in Serie A with a 3-2 home victory over Livorno, who were without injured midfielder Jose Vidigal.

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Spain - La Liga

Atletico on the up

Real Madrid beat Deportivo 3-1 at the Bernabeu to stay two points clear at the top of La Liga, although defender Pepe was still not deemed ready for a return after his recent spell out injured. Barcelona kept in touch with the leaders, coping without the injured Deco to dispose of Almeria 2-0 at the Camp Nou.

All three of Atletico Madrid’s Portuguese contingent were involved in Los Rojiblancos’ 1-0 win at Levante. Ze Castro and Maniche both started and Simao Sabrosa came off the bench during the second half as the team from the capital move up to fifth in La Liga.

Portugal right-back Miguel was dropped as Valencia lost for the second time in a week, going down 3-0 at Sevilla on Sunday evening. The former Benfica man watched from the bench as Marco Caneira played the full ninety minutes for Los Ches. Neither Manuel Fernandes (Valencia) nor Duda (Sevilla) were included in the respective squads.

Roberto Beto, Carlos Martins and Silvestre Varela all started for Recreativo Huelva in their 1-0 loss away at Murcia, although the latter pair were both substituted. Ricardo kept a clean sheet in Real Betis’ scoreless draw at Athletic Bilbao, while Jose Nunes was in the Mallorca backline as the Islanders were held 2-2 at home by Espanyol.

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Others

Greece

A 1-0 win away at Xanthi saw league leaders AEK Athens maintain their 100% record with their sixth straight league win in Greece. Geraldo Alves played in defence for AEK, while Manu was an unused substitute. Jose Peseiro’s Panathinaikos are in second, five points behind, after a 2-0 win over Atromitos.

A good weekend for the Portuguese in Greece also saw PAOK Saloniki, managed by Fernando Santos, also winning, beating Apollon 4-1 at home with Daniel Fernandes in goal.

Holland

Manuel da Costa was not in the PSV squad as the Dutch champions went top of the Eredivisie with a 4-1 thumping of Sparta Rotterdam on Sunday. With an unbeaten start of seven wins and two draws from their opening nine games, PSV have opened up a two-point lead over closest challengers Ajax.

Poland

Rui Miguel played 82 minutes for Zaglebie Lubin in their 2-1 home victory over Zaglebie Sosnowiec, a result that sees the champions fourteen points off leaders Wisla Krakow.

Romania

CFR Cluj recorded another impressive win in Romania, beating Rapid Bucharest 2-1 away from home on Sunday. Nuno Claro started in goal for Cluj, who also included captain Ricardo Cadu and Tony in defence, and Dani and Antonio Semedo were also included in attack.

Russia

Dynamo Moscow will head into the penultimate match of the Russian season in 6th place following a 0-0 draw away at Rostov. Danny started and played the full match in attack for Dynamo, who also brought on Custodio and Cicero.

Scotland

Jose Goncalves was in the Hearts defence as the Jambos were beaten 3-1 away at Kilmarnock. Pedro Moutinho came off the bench for the final half hour for Falkirk in their 1-1 draw away at Aberdeen. Filipe Morais was suspended as Hibernian lost 1-0 at home to St Mirren.

Serbia

Partizan Belgrade continue to look strong contenders for the Serbian title after a 2-0 win at FK Bezanija Belgrade in awful conditions maintained their five-point lead at the top of the Super Liga. Almani Moreira, so impressive since his summer move from Portugal, was not available for the trip across the capital.

Arch rivals Red Star lost ground on the leaders after a 1-1 home draw with Napredak Krusevac, with midfielder Lucas missing out through suspension.

Switzerland

FC Basel remain top in Switzerland after another convincing victory and a goal from Portuguese forward Carlitos in a 4-0 home thrashing of Young Boys. Former Benfica man Carlitos scored the final goal for Basel, who have a three-point lead over second placed FC Zurich.

Nelson Ferreira started but was substituted fifteen minutes from time in FC Thun’s 1-1 home draw with FC Zurich.

Turkey

Konyaspor won for only the second time this season, beating Sivasspor 2-1 at home on Sunday. Neca played the full ninety minutes in midfield, while defender Ze Gomes was an unused substitute.

Star Performer

Pauleta (PSG)

Despite his side’s 3-2 home defeat to champions Lyon, Pauleta demonstrated the quality that has left many confused as to why the Azorean has played so little this season, getting both his team’s goals after coming off the bench.

Earlier Round-ups