5 February 2007, by Sean Gillen

   Portuguese abroad weekly roundup

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England - Premiership

Ronaldo hits the net again

Manchester United restored their six-point lead at the top of the Premiership in convincing fashion as Cristiano Ronaldo scored the first in a 4-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane. Ricardo Rocha was an unused substitute for the home side.

Champions Chelsea had temporarily cut the Red Devils’ lead at the top to three points after beating relegation-threatened Charlton 1-0 away from home. Ricardo Carvalho was the only Portuguese player in Jose Mourinho’s match squad, playing the full ninety minutes.

Manuel Fernandes was not called from the bench to make his Everton debut and Nuno Valente also missed the 0-0 Merseyside derby clash with Liverpool. Pedro Mendes played in midfield as Portsmouth continued their poor run of form with a 1-0 defeat at Wigan.

Abel Xavier was in the Middlesbrough backline as they drew 1-1 with in-form Arsenal, while Ricardo Vaz Te was not in the Bolton squad for their 1-0 win at Watford. Luis Boa Morte was withdrawn on the hour mark as West Ham lost again, 1-0 at Aston Villa.

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France - Ligue 1

Crucial Pauleta strike

Pedro Pauleta snatched a second half equaliser as Paris Saint-Germain earned a point with a 1-1 draw at fierce rivals Marseille. Djibril Cisse had put the hosts ahead on 68 minutes, but skipper Pauleta responded with sixteen minutes remaining.

Lyon’s dramatic slump in form continued as they went down 1-0 to a last-minute goal at Troyes, with Tiago playing the full ninety minutes in midfield. Lens closed the gap at the top to eleven points as Marco Ramos played in their 3-1 win over Valenciennes.

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Germany - Bundesliga

Bremen slip up

Werder Bremen relinquished top spot in the Bundesliga after losing 2-0 at home to title challengers Schalke. Hugo Almeida started the game up front but was withdrawn on 64 minutes as a Peter Lovenkrands double stunned the home side.

Fernando Meira captained Stuttgart to three points as they stayed in third following a 1-0 win at Borussia Dortmund. Sergio Pinto was taken off at half time as Alemannia Aachen were hammered 4-1 at home by Hannover, Alex watched Wolfsburg’s 3-2 victory over Leverkusen from the bench and Ze Antonio missed Gladbach’s 2-0 win at Bielefeld.

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Italy - Serie A

Italian football suspended

There was no football in Italy this week following the crowd disturbances and tragic death of a policeman at Friday’s derby match in Sicily.

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Spain - La Liga

Miguel’s Valencia on the march

Valencia put themselves back in the La Liga title race with a 3-1 home win over Atletico Madrid at the Mestalla on Saturday. Miguel played at right-back for Los Ches, while Ze Castro and Maniche started and Costinha was a late introduction for the visitors.

Champions Barcelona remain one point clear at the top after Deco’s men drew 0-0 away at Levante on Sunday evening. They stay top after Sevilla surprisingly played out a scoreless draw with Sociedad, Duda coming on with over half an hour remaining for the hosts.

Jorge Andrade’s Deportivo got the better of Jose Nunes’ Mallorca on Saturday, winning 1-0 at the Estadio Riazor. Surprise package Recreativo also continue to impress, and Beto was in the side that won 2-1 at home against Villarreal. Miguel Areias was not included in the Celta squad to make his debut as the Galicians drew 1-1 with Gimnastic.

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Others

Belgium

Standard Liege won for the fourth match in succession and moved to within six points of the top of the Belgian Jupiler League as they defeated Racing Genk, knocking their opponents off the top in the process.

Ricardo Sa Pinto was introduced with 35 minutes left, and was the only of Standard’s Portuguese contingent to feature for Les Rouches.

Cyprus

Hugo Machado and Carneiro Tiago both kept their places as Olympiakos Nicosia followed up last week’s victory at AEL with another win over Ayia Napa. Having won one match all season going into last weekend’s game, Olympiakos’ second win in succession moves them off the foot of the table and to within one point of safety.

Portuguese midfielder Edgar Marcelinho scored the first goal as second place Omonia closed the gap at the top to one point with a 3-0 victory over Ethnikos Achnas. Joao Paiva played the last fifteen minutes of Apollon’s 1-1 draw with Anorthosis, in what was a only a half-schedule of fixtures in Cyprus.

Greece

Portugal under-21 striker Lourenco struck twice for Panionios as they beat Kalamaria 3-1 in the Greek Super League.

PAOK Salonika ended a poor recent run in spectacular fashion with a 2-1 home win over Panathinaikos with Daniel Fernandes in goal. Paulo Costa played for Aris as they beat Xanthi 1-0 to move up to fifth.

Holland

Dutch champions PSV suffered a rare defeat in the Eredivisie, and Manuel da Costa was substituted in the 56th minute as they were beaten 3-2 at home by AZ.

Scotland

Hearts were without Bruno Aguiar and Jose Goncalves as they lost 1-0 to Dunfermline in Scotland. Pedro Moutinho came on with 25 minutes to go and Vitor Lima remained on the bench as Falkirk were thrashed 3-0 at home by St Johnstone.

Turkey

On loan Maritimo midfielder Neca scored the opening goal from the penalty spot as Konyaspor hammered Denizlispor 5-1 to move up into fifth place in the Turkcell Süper Lig.

Star Performer

Pedro Pauleta (PSG)

PSG’s recent problems would have been compounded if they had lost to Marseille on Sunday evening, and they trailed their bitter rivals until the Portuguese ended a personal goal drought with a late equaliser to snatch a 1-1 draw.

Earlier round-ups