5 March 2007, by Sean Gillen

   Portuguese abroad weekly roundup

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England

United maintain lead

Manchester United maintained their nine-point lead over Chelsea at the top of the Premiership after another late winner saw Cristiano Ronaldo’s men beat Liverpool 1-0 at Anfield.

Jose Mourinho selected Ricardo Carvalho in central defence, with Paulo Ferreira an unused substitute, as the Blues won 2-0 at Portsmouth. Pompey’s Pedro Mendes was ruled out with an ankle injury that may keep him sidelined for the remainder of the season.

Manuel Fernandes continued in midfield for Everton in their 1-1 draw at Sheffield United, while Abel Xavier watched from the bench as Middlesbrough drew 0-0 at Newcastle. Ricardo Vaz Te was a 69th minute substitute for Bolton in their 2-1 home defeat to Blackburn.

Luis Boa Morte was left out of the West Ham squad as the Hammers squandered the lead twice in a 4-3 defeat to Tottenham at Upton Park. Ricardo Rocha was left on the bench by Spurs, who came from 2-0 and then 3-2 down to take all three points in an entertaining London derby.

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France - Ligue 1

Tiago special

Tiago scored for the first time since October as Lyon beat rivals St Etienne 3-1 in the derby in Ligue 1. The Portuguese midfielder produced a superb chip to put his side 2-0 up at the Stade Geoffrey-Guichard, with Kallstrom and Fred getting the other goals in a match that was temporarily stopped early in the second half due to crowd trouble.

Pedro Pauleta was left out of the starting line-up, but did come on after 65 minutes, as Paris Saint-Germain dropped into the relegation zone after a disappointing 2-0 defeat at Sedan. Marco Ramos played in defence for second place Lens as they drew 0-0 with Marseille at the Velodrome.

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Germany - Bundesliga

Bremen back in the hunt

Werder Bremen put themselves right back in the title race with a 3-0 victory over Bochum on Saturday. Hugo Almeida came on for the final fifteen minutes for Bremen, who move to within three points of stuttering leaders Schalke.

Fernando Meira returned to the starting line-up for Stuttgart as they were beaten 3-1 at Bayer Leverkusen. Ze Antonio played in defence for Gladbach as they lost 1-0 to Wolfsburg, who were without Alex, and Sergio Pinto watched from the bench as Aachen beat Mainz 2-1 at home.

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Italy - Serie A

Inter stretch lead

Inter stretched their lead at the top of Serie A to sixteen points after a 2-1 away win over Livorno. Luis Figo came on for the final twenty-five minutes for the Nerazurri, while Jose Vidigal was introduced in the 80th minute by the home side.

Parma are still in the midst of a relegation battle after only managing a 2-2 home draw with Reggina. Fernando Couto played the full match in defence for Parma, while Ricardo Esteves played the final few minutes for Reggina, who led 2-1 until an injury-time equaliser from Rossi.

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Spain - La Liga

Costinha sees red

Sevilla are the new leaders in La Liga after coming from behind to beat champions Barcelona 2-1 at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan. Barca rested Deco for the match, but had already taken the lead through Ronaldinho when the Brazilian missed a penalty after Aitor Ocio had been sent off for bringing him down.

Ten-man Sevilla, who left Duda on the bench, then equalised through Kerzhakov, before Dani Alves’ late winner consigned Barca, who had Giuly and Zambrotta sent off in the second half, to defeat ahead of their Champions League clash with Liverpool.

Valencia made up ground on the leaders with a 1-0 win over Celta Vigo, with Miguel starting and Hugo Viana coming on in the second half for the hosts and Miguel Areias left on the bench for Celta.

Costinha was sent off for denying a late goalscoring opportunity and Ze Castro gave away the winning penalty as Atletico Madrid’s Champions League hopes were hit by a 1-0 defeat at Recreativo. Ze Castro, Maniche and Costinha all started for Atletico, while illness kept Beto out for Recre.

Injury forced Jose Nunes off after only half an hour of Mallorca’s crucial 3-1 home win over Levante, which lifts them out of the relegation zone. Jorge Andrade’s Deportivo suffered a disappointing 1-0 home defeat to Real Betis at the Riazor.

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Others

Belgium

Sergio Conceicao was the only Portuguese player involved as Standard Liege beat Cercle Brugge in the Jupiler League, the winger starting in a 2-0 away victory.

Cyprus

Ricardo Fernandes and Helio Pinto both scored as APOEL hammered Digenis 4-0 to stay top. Nelson Veiga hit the opener for second placed Omonia as they kept up the pressure on the leaders with a 2-1 win at Apollon. Pedro Torrao and Edgar Marcelino were also in the Omonia line-up, while Joao Paiva was in the home side.

Hugo Machado and Tiago Carneiro were in the Olympiakos Nicosia team that drew 0-0 at home with Anorthosis, a result that sees them three points adrift of safety in 17th place in the Cypriot First Division.

Greece

Daniel Fernandes produced several stops to keep a clean sheet for PAOK Salonika in their 0-0 draw at Kerkira. Lourenco started and Carlos Carneiro was left on the bench for Panionios as they won 2-0 away at Aigaleo to move up to seventh.

Ednilson was an unused substitute for OFI’s 2-1 victory at Larisa, who left Felipe da Costa on the bench. Paulo Costa was in the Aris Saloniki side beaten 3-1 at AEK Athens.

Holland

Injury ruled Manuel da Costa out of PSV’s 2-0 win over RKC Waalwijk at the Phillips Stadium, a result which moves them eight points clear at the top of the Eredivisie. Virigilio Teixeira was taken off at half time for the visitors.

Romania

CFR Cluj selected six Portuguese players as they beat bottom placed National 1-0 away from home to stay in the hunt for a European place. Ricardo Cadu, Tony and Fredy played in defence, Manuel Jose and Pedro Oliveira started in midfield and Antonio Semedo was in attack as a goal from former Pacos Ferreira forward Didi (84’) sealed the points.

Russia

Danny got on the scoresheet for Dynamo Moscow as they beat Tom Tomsk 2-0 at home in the first leg of the last sixteen of the Russian Cup. The former Sporting man opened the scoring on 27 minutes, and later missed a penalty, before Ruslan Pimenov added a second.

Ex Braga forward Cicero also started for Dynamo, who begin the new Russian league season on Sunday with a home clash against city rivals Spartak, before travelling to Tomsk for the second leg on March 14th.

Scotland

Jose Goncalves was not deemed fit enough to make his first team comeback in Hearts’ 1-1 home draw with St Mirren, while Bruno Aguiar was also out with an injury. Pedro Moutinho played the full match and Vitor Lima was on the bench for Falkirk as they lost 2-1 to Aberdeen.

Switzerland

Joao Pinto was absent from the Sion defence in their 2-0 defeat at Young Boys, while Carlitos was selected in attack. Grasshoppers, without Roberto Pinto, suffered an embarrassing 5-1 home defeat to Basel.

Carlos da Silva came on after an hour but could not prevent Schaffhausen from losing 4-0 at home to Zurich. Nelson Ferreira was left on the bench for Thun’s 0-0 draw with Aarau and Luis Calapes missed Luzern’s stalemate with St Gallen.

Turkey

Neca played the full ninety minutes for Konyaspor as they were beaten 2-1 at home by Trabzonspor and remain in sixth place in the Turkcell Super Lig.

Star Performer

Tiago (Lyon)

After recent struggles with form and fitness, Tiago scored a stunning chip for his side in their comfortable 3-1 derby win over St Etienne, sending Lyon into their Champions League clash with Roma in good spirits.

Earlier round-ups