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England - Premiership

Ronaldo masterclass; Carvalho winner

Ricardo Carvalho kept Chelsea in the Premiership title race with the winning goal as an unconvincing performance from the Blues saw them edge past Middlesbrough 1-0 at Stamford Bridge. The Portuguese defender rose to head home early on in the first half, with Hilario watching from bench while Paulo Ferreira was not involved.

Chelsea had to win to keep up chase of leaders Manchester United, who were imperious form as they dismantled Aston Villa 4-0 at Old Trafford. Cristiano Ronaldo scored the opener and set up all three others to continue his superb recent form, but an injury to Nani kept the 21-year-old out of the game.

Meanwhile, Everton’s hopes of Champions League football were dealt a major blow with defeat at city rivals Liverpool, who now have a five-point advantage over the Toffees. Manuel Fernandes came on for the final half hour, while Nuno Valente was an unused substitute.

Portsmouth are now just two points behind Everton in sixth after Pedro Mendes played in their 2-0 win over Wigan. Luis Boa Morte was left on the bench for West Ham’s 2-1 defeat at Sunderland, which leaves the Hammers 10th in the Premiership.

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France - Ligue 1

Pauleta nets in PSG League Cup triumph

Pedro Pauleta helped Paris Saint-Germain to the Coupe de la Ligue on Saturday, giving the club from the capital a brief distraction for their miserable league campaign. The Azorean got the opener in a 2-1 win over Lens, but results in the league meant that PSG dropped a place in Ligue 1 and now sit in 19th in the French top flight.

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Germany - Bundesliga

Werder Bremen slipped down to 5th in the Bundesliga after a shock home defeat to lowly Duisburg on Saturday. Portuguese striker Hugo Almeida was not involved for Bremen, who are one point away from a top three finish and qualification for next season’s Champions League.

Elsewhere, reigning champions Stuttgart had Fernando Meira in defence as they were held 0-0 at Hannover, for whom Sergio Pinto was withdrawn with ten minutes left to play. Ricardo Costa missed Wolfsburg’s 1-0 victory at Hansa Rostock.

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Italy - Serie A

Top two draw

Both of the top two in Italy dropped points on Saturday, with champions Inter maintaining a four-point lead over Roma in Serie A. The side from the capital, who face Manchester United on Tuesday, left Antunes on the bench as an almost full strength side were held 1-1 at Cagliari. Later on that evening, Inter failed to take advantage of the slip-up, with Maniche starting and Vitor Pele left on the bench as the Nerazurri drew 1-1 with Lazio.

Manuel da Costa was once again an unused substitute as Fiorentina lost 3-1 at Udinese, seeing their lead for the fourth Champions League spot cut to just three points. Jose Vidigal’s Livorno are still in 17th place in Serie A after the midfielder played the final 18 minutes of a 0-0 draw with Siena.

Juventus’ home match with Parma was postponed as a mark of respect following a tragic road accident before the game involving a supporter. The rescheduled fixture is expected to take place on April 16th.

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Spain - La Liga

Real tighten grip on title

Real Madrid extended their lead at the top of La Liga to six points, with Villarreal now the champions nearest challengers. Pepe was not in Real’s defence for a 3-1 victory over Sevilla, who left Duda on the bench. Barcelona, who played the previous evening, threw away a two-goal lead to lose to Betis in Seville. Deco missed the match through suspension, while Betis left Portuguese goalkeeper Ricardo on the bench, with Espinosa Casto looking uneasy in his place between the posts.

In the battle for fourth place, Atletico Madrid are now only holding off Racing Santander only on the head-to-head record after losing 3-0 at Villarreal. An injury picked up on international duty kept Simao Sabrosa out of the match, while Ze Castro was an unused substitute. Valencia were humiliated at the Mestalla by Mallorca, with Marco Caneira and Miguel playing as Los Ches were beaten 3-0 by Jose Nunes and Mallorca.

Recreativo Huelva selected all three of their Portuguese contingent as they drew 1-1 with Athletic Bilbao. Roberto Beto, Carlos Martins and Silvestre Varela all started for Recre, who were eight minutes from victory before Aduriz’s leveller for Bilbao. Hugo Viana was not called from the bench by Osasuna in their 2-0 win at Getafe.

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Others

Greece

Edinho continued his incredible start to life at AEK Athens by scoring in a memorable 4-0 victory over league leaders Olympiakos. The January signing got the second for AEK, who left Geraldo Alves on the bench as they moved to within two points of the leaders.

Jose Peseiro’s Panathinaikos in second closed the gap on Olympiakos to just one point thanks to a 2-1 win over Panionios, with Helder Postiga starting but replaced on 65 minutes as the side trailed 1-0. Elsewhere PAOK Saloniki, managed by Fernando Santos, secured a much needed 1-0 won over Atromitos Athens, with Daniel Fernandes starting and Sergio Conceicao coming on for the last ten minutes.

Poland

Champions Zaglebie Lubin lost 2-1 at LKS Lodz on Saturday, with Tiago Gomes starting in defence while fellow Portuguese Rui Miguel came on for the final twelve minutes of normal time but could not help his side avoid defeat.

Romania

Antonio Semedo grabbed a brace as Romanian league leaders CFR Cluj got back to winning ways with a superb 2-1 victory away at champions Dinamo Bucharest on Sunday evening. The Portuguese put his side ahead on 11 minutes and, after Dinamo had equalised, scored the decisive second in first-half injury time. Fellow Portuguese Tony, Ricardo Cadu, Manuel Jose and Dani all joined Semedo in the starting line-up.

Portuguese striker Edson Rolando da Silva came off the bench to score in UTA Arad’s 2-1 victory over Gloria Buzau. UTA started with Bruno Simao and Daniel Amorereinha in defence and brought Edson into the fray on 66 minutes while 1-0 up and the former PSV man doubled his side’s advantage just eight minutes later.

Rapid Bucharest were also big winners, beating Ceahlaul Piatra Neamt 5-1 in the capital. Joao Paulo came on as a 30th minute substitute for Rapid, while Portuguese defender Bruno Fernandes captained hapless Ceahlaul. Elsewhere, Mingote kept goal as Pandurii Targu Jiu recorded a priceless 1-0 win over Politehnica Iasi on Sunday.

Russia

Dynamo Moscow followed up last week’s victory with another win, this time coming from behind to beat Amkar Perm 2-1 away from home. Portuguese forward Danny scored in the first minute of the second half to equalise for his side, who were without Cicero and Custodio.

Scotland

Pedro Moutinho came on at half time but could not help Falkirk find a way past Kilmarnock in a stalemate at the Falkirk Stadium. Filipe Morais was taken off with twenty minutes left to play as his Hibernian side lost 1-0 at Motherwell. Jose Goncalves returned to the Hearts defence for their 1-0 win over Dundee United.

Serbia

Partizan Belgrade took a major step towards the Serbian title as a 1-0 win over Borac Cacak saw them extend their lead at the top to seven points. Ednilson and Almani Moreira both played the full ninety minutes for Partizan, who have eleven games left to play.

Switzerland

FC Basel relinquished leadership of the Swiss Super League after slumping to a 1-0 defeat at Luzern on Saturday, with Carlitos playing the full ninety minutes. The result allowed Young Boys Bern to go top after they hammered an FC Thun side containing Nelson Ferreira 4-0. Ze Vitor played the full ninety minutes as St.Gallen lost 2-0 at home to Grasshoppers, who gained revenge after losing the reverse match between the sides last weekend.

Turkey

Konyaspor dropped dangerously close to the relegation zone after losing 1-0 at home to Genclerbirligi, with Portuguese defender Ze Gomes and unused substitute for Konya. Meanwhile, Ankaraspor moved away from trouble with a 1-0 win over Trabzonspor as Neca came on for the final 15 minutes of normal time.

Ukraine

Ricardo Fernandes was in the Metalurg Donetsk side that lost 2-1 at home to Tavriya Simferopol on Saturday, meaning they stay in 11th place in the Ukrainian Premier League.

Star Performer

Antonio Semedo (CFR Cluj)

After last weekend’s defeat, under pressure Romanian league leaders CFR Cluj faced a major test on Sunday evening with a trip to champions Dinamo Bucharest. Fans’ favourite Antonio Semedo proved the hero for Cluj, scoring both goals to help his side to a memorable 2-1 victory.

Earlier Round-ups