18 December 2006, by Sean Gillen

Mourinho and Chelsea near Premiership perch as Maniche strikes winner

Portuguese Abroad weekend round-up

Chelsea cut Manchester United’s gap at the top of the Premiership to just two points after a thrilling comeback against Everton at Goodison Park. Having twice been behind in the match, Didier Drogba’s late winner gave the Blues a 3-2 victory and a vital three points.

Jose Mourinho again selected Hilario in goal, while defender Ricardo Carvalho was partnered by Dutch centre-half Khalid Bouhlarouz after John Terry pulled out injured. Nuno Valente was missing for the home side.

It became a perfect weekend for the champions after Manchester United surprisingly lost 1-0 at West Ham United, with Cristiano Ronaldo part of a frustrated United side. Pedro Mendes was in the Portsmouth team, although Manuel Fernandes was controversially left out, as the south coast outfit earned an unexpected 2-2 draw away at Arsenal.

Barcelona were unable to participate in this weekend’s action in La Liga, as they were busy competing in the Club World Cup in Japan. The Catalans will return empty handed, however, as Deco’s men were beaten 1-0 by South American champions Internacional.

Sevilla took the opportunity to leapfrog them into first place, beating Recreativo 3-1 away from home to move one point clear at the top. Beto played the full 90 minutes in defence for the home side, while Duda was omitted from the Sevilla squad.

Maniche winner

Maniche was the hero for Atletico Madrid as they beat Getafe 1-0 at the Vicente Calderon. The Portugal star scored the only goal of the game for his side on 24 minutes, as the defence that included Ze Castro kept a clean sheet.

Valencia got a much-needed win at high-flying Zaragoza. Miguel started and Hugo Viana came on for the final few minutes of their 1-0 victory. Jose Nunes was in the Mallorca backline as they lost 2-1 at home to Racing, while Fabio Felicio played the closing minutes of Real Sociedad’s 3-2 win over Gimnastic.

Luis Figo returned to action after a spell out of the Inter setup as the Nerazurri beat Messina 2-0 at the San Siro, and Fernando Couto was in the Parma defence as they drew 2-2 with Chievo. An ankle injury kept Manuel da Costa out of the PSV side that beat Heracles 3-0 in the Dutch Eredivisie.

In France, Lyon continue to power towards their sixth consecutive Ligue 1 title, as Tiago was part of the side that hammered Marco Ramos’ Lens 4-0. Meanwhile, Pedro Pauleta fired a blank as his Paris Saint-Germain side continued their poor domestic form with a 0-0 home draw with Nice.

Fernando Meira captained Stuttgart in their 0-0 draw in Germany’s Bundesliga, as Hugo Almeida played the final 25 minutes of Werder Bremen’s 2-1 win over Wolfsburg. Ze Antonio’s Gladbach went down 2-0 at Bochum.

Scottish side Hearts continue to disappoint, and Bruno Aguiar played the full match as they were beaten 1-0 at home by Aberdeen. In Greece, Daniel Fernandes’ PAOK suffered a second consecutive defeat as they lost 1-0 away to OFI.

Standard Liege beat Excelsior Mouscron 2-0 to remain fifth in the Belgian Jupiler League. Former Sporting man Sa Pinto was the sole Portuguese player in the Standard line-up.

Star Performer

Maniche

The Portuguese midfielder has been earning rave reviews for his performances for Los Rojiblancos, and scored the winner for Atletico as they beat Getafe 1-0 to stay in the thick of the fight for Champions League places.

Earlier round-ups:
11/12/06 Star Performer - Ronaldo
04/12/06 Star Performer - Deco
27/11/06 Star Performer - Ricardo Carvalho
20/11/06 Star Performer - Maniche
13/11/06 Star Performer - Ze Castro
09/11/06 Star Performer - Hugo Viana
06/11/06 Star Performer - Carlitos
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