What is RSS?

   Portuguese abroad weekly roundup

     England     France     Germany     Italy     Spain    Others

England - Premiership

Chelsea back in contention

Chelsea are still in the Premiership title hunt after beating champions and league leaders Manchester United 2-1 at Stamford Bridge. Ricardo Carvalho and Paulo Ferreira played in the Blues’ backline, while Nani started for United and Cristiano Ronaldo made a second half appearance. The result leaves Chelsea behind United only on goal difference heading into the final two games of the season.

Everton’s chase for fourth place was finally mathematically ended when they drew 2-2 with Aston Villa, leaving them eight points behind Liverpool. Manuel Fernandes, still hoping to win a permanent transfer to Goodison Park, was replaced after 66 minutes by Toffees boss David Moyes.

Luis Boa Morte came on as an early substitute in West Ham’s 2-2 draw with Newcastle, replacing the injured Freddie Ljunberg after 22 minutes at Upton Park. Pedro Mendes, who is reportedly likely to leave Portsmouth in the summer, was not included in Pompey’s squad for their 1-0 defeat at home to Blackburn.

     England     France     Germany     Italy     Spain    Others

France - Ligue 1

Paulet hits milestone

Pedro Pauleta scored his 200th goal in French football to help Paris Saint-Germain to a crucial 3-1 win over Auxerre, although the team from the capital are still in the Ligue 1 relegation zone. The Azorean’s 3rd minute strike was followed by a brace from Amara Diane, but PSG remain in the drop zone on goal difference with three games left to play. Lens, who are one place above PSG, lost 3-2 at Le Mans with Marco Ramos an unused substitute.

     England     France     Germany     Italy     Spain    Others

Germany - Bundesliga

Outgoing German title holders Stuttgart were thrashed 4-1 by champions elect Bayern Munich on Sunday evening. Fernando Meira was a big miss for Stuttgart, who remain in 5th place. Second place Werder Bremen drifted nine points behind leaders Bayern following a 3-3 draw at Karlsruhe, with Hugo Almeida playing the final five minutes for Bremen.

A 2-2 draw at Bayer Leverkusen saw Wolfsburg, who had Ricardo Costa in defence, stay in 7th place in the German top flight, while Hannover were without Sergio Pinto as they were held 2-2 at home by Hertha Berlin.

     England     France     Germany     Italy     Spain    Others

Italy - Serie A

Inter look set for a third consecutive Serie A title after a 2-1 victory over Cagliari maintained their six-point lead going into the last two games of the season. Vitor Pele was the only Portuguese included in the Nerazurri’s squad, but remained on the bench. Closest challengers Roma also won, beating Torino 4-1 in the capital with Antunes an unused substitute.

Juventus made it four wins in a row with a 5-2 hammering of Lazio in Turin. Tiago was left on the bench by Bianconeri manager Claudio Ranieri. Fiorentina, who left Manuel da Costa out of their match squad, have just a two-point lead over Milan in the race for fourth place after conceding a late equaliser in a 2-2 draw with Sampdoria. Parma, without the suspended Fernando Couto, dropped into the relegation zone with a 2-1 defeat at Reggina.

     England     France     Germany     Italy     Spain    Others

Spain - La Liga

Real almost there

Real Madrid increased their lead at the top of La Liga to nine points, all but sealing their second consecutive Spanish title. Pepe played in Real’s 3-0 win over Athletic Bilbao, while second place Barcelona gave Deco was given a half hour run-out but lost 2-0 at Deportivo La Coruna, allowing Villarreal to move above them with a 1-0 win at a Betis side without Ricardo.

Atletico Madrid moved closer to Champions League qualification, despite only managing a 1-1 draw at Getafe. Simao Sabrosa missed the game through injury and Ze Castro was left on the bench by Atletico, who’s main rivals, Racing and Sevilla, also dropped points. Duda played the final six minutes of Sevilla’s 0-0 draw at Murcia, while Jose Nunes scored the opening goal as Mallorca beat Racing 3-1.

Valencia’s first match following the departure of manager Ronald Koeman yielded a much needed win to pull themselves away from relegation trouble. Marco Caneira and Miguel both started in defence as Los Ches were 3-0 winners over Osasuna, who did not include Hugo Viana in their match squad.

Recreativo Huelva dragged themselves out of the bottom three with a 2-0 win over bottom placed Levante. Carlos Martins started the match and Silvestre Varela came on as a 65th minute substitute, but defender Roberto Beto missed out through injury.

     England     France     Germany     Italy     Spain    Others

Others

Greece

Season finished.

Poland

Zaglebie Lubin were 3-0 winners over Zaglebie Sosnowiec on Saturday, almost securing 6th place in the Polish top flight. Tiago Gomes played in defence for Zaglebie, who are six points off 5th place Korona Kielce and five points clear of Gornik Zabrze.

Romania

CFR Cluj’s title hopes took a blow as they were held 0-0 at lowly Dacia Mioveni on Saturday, leaving them two points adrift of league leaders Steaua Bucharest. Cluj started with four Portuguese in their line-up: Tony and Ricardo Cadu, who had to be replaced early on, in defence, while Andre Leao and Antonio Semedo were in midfield.

Russia

Dynamo Moscow suffered their first defeat of the new Russian season on Friday, losing 2-0 at home to early pacesetters Rubin Kazan, who still have a 100% record after seven rounds. Danny played the full ninety minutes for Dynamo, who drop down to third place.

Scotland

Jose Goncalves was in the Hearts defence as the Jambos beat Inverness 1-0, while Pedro Moutinho came on at half time in Falkirk’s 1-0 defeat at St. Mirren and Filipe Morais was subbed late on as Hibernian lost 2-1 at Aberdeen.

Serbia

Partizan Belgrade maintained their three-point lead at the top of the Serbian league with a 1-0 win at Cukaricki Beograd. Midfielder Ednilson and forward Almani Moreira both played the full ninety minutes for Partizan, who still have another six games to play in the league calendar.

Switzerland

FC Basel once again missed out on the chance to regain control of the Swiss league this weekend. Title rivals Young Boys’ defeat in their game in-hand on Thursday evening meant that Basel went into the weekend two points clear at the top. However, with Carlitos in the side, Basel drew 2-2 at Aarau, while Young Boys beat Sion 2-1 to move top on goal difference with three matches left to play.

Bottom two FC Thun and St. Gallen played out a 1-1 draw on Friday evening. Nelson Ferreira played the full ninety minutes in midfield for home side Thun, while Ze Vitor was in the visiting St. Gallen side.

Turkey

Konyaspor dropped down to 15th in the Turkcell Süper Lig following a 2-0 defeat at Manisaspor. Portuguese Ze Gomes started the game in defence for Konyaspor, but was replaced as his side went down to two first half goals. Meanwhile, Ankaraspor moved up to 12th with a 1-0 win over Genclerbirligi, with Neca coming on after 72 minutes.

Ukraine

Ricardo Fernandes was in the Metalurg Donetsk side which beat Zakarpattya Uzgorod 5-0 at home on Saturday to move up to 10th in the Ukrainian Premier League with three matches left to play.

Star Performer

Pauleta (PSG)

Despite seeing little involvement in the first team during the opening two thirds of the season, Pauleta has inevitably emerged as a key player in PSG’s fight to avoid relegation. The Azorean hit the 200-goal mark in French football with the opener in a potentially crucial win over Auxerre at the Parc des Princes on Saturday.

Earlier Round-ups