6 November 2006, by Sean Gillen

Ronaldo special helps stretch United’s Premiership lead

Portuguese Abroad weekly round-up

Manchester United extended their lead at the top of the English Premiership to three points after a 3-0 home win over Portsmouth. Cristiano Ronaldo scored the second for the Red Devils with a stunning free-kick, while Manuel Fernandes and Pedro Mendes started for Pompey.

Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea suffered a rare defeat, going down 2-1 at Tottenham Hotspur, with Hilario, Paulo Ferreira and Ricardo Carvalho starting the game for the Blues. Luis Boa Morte returned to the Fulham starting line-up for their 1-0 home win over Everton, with Nuno Valente remaining on the bench for the visitors. Ricardo Vaz Te played the final 15 minutes of Bolton’s 1-0 home loss to Wigan.

Sevilla are the new leaders in Spain. Portuguese winger Duda watched from the bench as his side beat Osasuna 2-0 at home. They go top because champions Barcelona were held 1-1 at Deportivo, with Deco playing the full 90 minutes for Los Cules. Valencia’s stuttering league form continued as they were held to a 1-1 with Espanyol. Miguel missed the match for Los Ches, while Hugo Viana played the final half hour as a substitute.

Atletico Madrid failed to win for the fourth time in five league games, drawing 0-0 at Mallorca. Costinha and Maniche started and Ze Castro came on for the visitors, while Jose Nunes played at the heart of the Mallorca defence. Beto played the full 90 minutes for Recreativo in their 2-1 win at home over Gimnastic.

Figo’s Inter stay top

Luis Figo came on early in the second half of Inter’s 2-0 win over Ascoli, and both goals came after the Portuguese’s introduction. Livorno recovered from their midweek UEFA Cup football, beating Udinese 1-0 at home with Jose Vidigal on the bench. Ricardo Esteves was subbed as Reggina lost 1-0 at home to Catania.

In France, Lyon suffered a shock defeat as Tiago played the final eight minutes of a 1-0 loss at Rennes. The suspended Pauleta missed Paris Saint-Germain’s disappointing 3-1 home defeat to Lens, for whom full-back Marco Ramos played the full match. PSG drop down to 12th in Ligue 1.

Werder Bremen failed to stretch their lead at the top of the German Bundesliga after rivals Bayern Munich dropped points. Despite striker Hugo Almeida’s 60th minute introduction, Bremen had to come from behind to draw 1-1 with Energie Cottbus at home.

Fernando Meira’s absence was not felt by Stuttgart as they moved into second after beating Aachen 4-2, and Alex played for Wolfsburg as they edged out Hamburg 1-0 at home. Ze Antonio was in the Gladbach backline for their 1-0 loss at Frankfurt.

An ankle problem ruled Manuel Da Costa out of PSV’s 3-0 win over NAC Breda in the Dutch Eredivisie. Hearts’ challenge for the Scottish Premier League suffered a major setback as they lost 2-1 to leaders Celtic at Parkhead. After taking a 72nd minute lead, Hearts conceded an equaliser four minutes from time before goalkeeper Craig Gordon scored a disastrous 96th minute own goal. Jose Goncalves and Bruno Aguiar started for the Edinburgh club.

Portuguese midfielder Carlitos scored the only goal of the game as FC Sion beat Young Boys 1-0 to move up to second in the Swiss Super League, joint-top with FC Zurich. PAOK Salonika got their second consecutive win after beating Kirkira 1-0 in Greece, with Daniel Fernandes keeping a clean sheet in the PAOK goal.

In Belgium, Standard Liege drew 0-0 with champions Anderlecht at home, with Miguel Areias. Dynamo Moscow moved up one place to third from bottom in the Russian Premier League after a 1-0 away win at Rubin. Danny started the match and Almani Moreira watched from the bench as a goal from former Porto striker Derlei gave the visitors a crucial win.

In Romania, Portuguese trio Ricardo Cadu, Manuel Jose and Antonio Semedo were all involved for CFR Cluj as they ended Dynamo Bucharest’s incredible 100% league record with a 2-1 victory. Dynamo had won all of their previous 13 games in this season’s Liga going into the game, but were beaten by an 88th minute goal from Surdu.

Star Performer

Carlitos

Newly promoted FC Sion are enjoying an incredible 2006/07 season in Switzerland’s Super League, and former Benfica midfielder Carlitos scored the winner as they beat last season’s third place side Young Boys 1-0 to go joint top after 14 games.

Earlier round-ups:
30/10/06 Star Performer - Hilario
26/10/06 Star Performer - Hilario
23/10/06 Star Performer - Manuel da Costa
16/10/06 Star Performer - Tiago
02/10/06 Star Performer - Cristiano Ronaldo
25/09/06 Star Performer - Cristiano Ronaldo
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