25 September 2006, by Sean Gillen

Ronaldo strikes for United but Chelsea take over at Premiership summit

Portuguese Abroad Weekly Round-up

Manchester United’s stumble in the Premiership continued at Reading, but it could have been worse if Cristiano Ronaldo had not grabbed a second half equaliser to earn a 1-1 draw. The result sees United fall behind Chelsea in the league, with Jose Mourinho pairing Ricardo Carvalho and Paulo Ferreira in central defence for the Blues 2-0 win at Fulham.

Nuno Valente came on at half time in Everton’s 1-1 draw at Newcastle, with Tim Cahill equalising in the second half for the Toffees. Ricardo Vaz Te’s Bolton play Portsmouth, with Manuel Fernandes and Pedro Mendes, on Monday.

The big match in La Liga ended all square, as Miguel’s Valencia earned a 1-1 draw at the Nou Camp against Barcelona, who started with Deco in midfield. Atletico Madrid ended Sevilla’s good start to the season with a 2-1 win in a bad tempered game at the Vicente Calderon. Maniche replaced Costinha at half time for the home side, who received seven yellow cards, while Duda watched from the bench for Sevilla, who had two men sent off.

Jose Nunes’ Mallorca beat Espanyol 1-0 and Beto’s Recreativo earned a 3-2 win at Real Sociedad.

Inter registered their second consecutive win in Serie A by beating Chievo 4-3 at the San Siro. Ricardo Esteves came on for the last 20 minutes of Reggina’s 1-1 home draw with Torino, while Semedo (Cagliari) and Jose Vidigal (Livorno) were unused substitutes for their sides.

In Germany, Werder Bremen stopped their run of defeats with a point in a 1-1 draw at fellow Champions League participants Hamburg, with Hugo Almeida starting upfront. Ze Antonio was part of the Gladbach defence that edged out Dortmund in a 1-0 win on Friday evening, while Alex watched Wolfsburg’s 2-0 defeat to Schalke from the bench and Stuttgart continue to miss injured captain Fernando Meira, drawing 1-1 with Frankfurt.

Lyon rested Tiago ahead of their Champions League clash with Steaua Bucharest in midweek, but the French champions still managed to thrash Lille 4-1 in Ligue 1. Pedro Pauleta played the full 90 minutes as Paris Saint-Germain drew 0-0 with Nancy at the Parc Des Princes.

Scotland title contenders Hearts used none of their Portuguese contingent for their 3-1 win at Aberdeen, while Falkirk replaced Pedro Moutinho with Vitor Lima in their 1-0 win over Hibernian. Daniel Fernandes was selected in goal for PAOK as his side lost 2-1 to Panathinaikos in the Greek top flight.

Standard Liege moved up to 7th in the Belgian Jupiler League with a 1-0 win over Cercle Brugge, with Miguel Areias and Sergio Conceicao starting for last season’s runners up. Dynamo Moscow’s nightmare season in Russia continued with a 2-1 loss at Rostov.

In Romania, Carlos kept goal as Steaua Bucharest recorded an important 2-1 home win over Gloria Bistrita. The team occupy second place, seven points behind city-rivals Dinamo. Roberto Pinto was on the scoresheet as Grasshoppers Zurich hammered Schaffhause 5-0 to go top of the Swiss league.

Star Performer

Cristiano Ronaldo

In an otherwise disappointing display by Manchester United, a moment of brilliance from the Portuguese winger earned a point for Alex Ferguson’s men.

Earlier round-ups:
18/09/06 Star Performer - Sergio Conceicao
11/09/06 Star Performer - Ricardo Carvalho
28/08/06 Star Performer - Figo
21/08/06 Star Performer - Deco