9 April 2007, by Sean Gillen

   Portuguese abroad weekly roundup

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England - Premiership

Chelsea close gap

For the first time since early January, Manchester United saw their lead at the top of the Premiership reduced by champions Chelsea. United, including Cristiano Ronaldo, suffered their second defeat in four days as they were beaten by Portsmouth 2-1 at Fratton Park. Pompey were again without the injured Pedro Mendes.

Chelsea moved to within three points of the leaders after Ricardo Carvalho scored the only goal of the game as the Blues beat Tottenham 1-0 at Stamford Bridge. Ricardo Rocha was in the Spurs’ defence for the match, while Paulo Ferreira also started for Jose Mourinho’s men, who have six games to overhaul United to claim a third straight league title.

West Ham pulled of the shock result of the weekend, beating Arsenal 1-0 at the Emirates stadium. Luis Boa Morte was a late substitute for the Hammers, who inflicted the first defeat at the Gunners’ new home since Arsene Wenger’s men moved grounds last summer.

Abel Xavier was selected at right-back as Middlesbrough returned to form with a resounding 4-1 home win over bottom placed Watford. Everton’s impressive recent form continued on Friday, the Toffees beating Fulham 4-1 at Goodison Park without Manuel Fernandes and Nuno Valente.

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France - Ligue 1

PSG continue recovery

Paris Saint-Germain made it two wins in a row with a 2-1 home victory over Le Mans at the Parc Des Princes. Pedro Pauleta played almost seventy minutes for the side from the capital, who are now three points clear of the relegation zone.

Champions Lyon’s unimpressive recent form continued, with Tiago playing the full ninety minutes in their 0-0 draw at Valenciennes, a result which leaves the league leaders with two wins from their last seven games. Defender Marco Ramos missed Lens’ 1-0 defeat at Rennes.

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Germany - Bundesliga

Meira on the mark

The top four in Germany all won, with leaders Schalke maintaining their lead at the top of the Bundesliga with a 2-0 win over Borussia Monchengladbach. Ze Antonio started in defence for Gladbach, who are now five points adrift of safety at the bottom of the table.

Second placed Bremen selected striker Hugo Almeida for their home match with Nuremberg, and the Porto-owned man played the full ninety minutes in a 1-0 victory. Stuttgart, in third place, breezed past Hamburg, with captain Fernando Meira scoring in a 4-2 win.

Sergio Pinto started for Alemannia Aachen as they were beaten 4-1 at home by Borussia Dortmund, while Alex was not in the Wolfsburg squad for their 3-2 home win over Mainz.

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Italy - Serie A

Figo still going strong

Parma gave themselves renewed hope of survival from relegation as an 89th minute goal from on-loan Manchester United forward Giuseppe Rossi earned a 1-0 win over Livorno. Jose Vidigal was a 65th minute substitute for Livorno, while Fernando Couto played the full match for the Gialloblu, who move up to 18th and to within one point of safety.

Champions Inter stretched remain unbeaten after 30 Serie A games, but had to settle for a 0-0 draw at Reggina, although Luis Figo started and was named Man of the Match for the Nerazurri. Reggina’s Ricardo Esteves watched the match from the bench.

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Spain - La Liga

Barcelona slip up

The title race in Spain took another twist as champions Barcelona lost 1-0 at Zaragoza with Deco in the side, while second placed Sevilla cut Los Cules’ two-point lead in half with a 0-0 draw against Racing.

Valencia clearly had one eye on Tuesday’s Champions League quarter-final second leg with Chelsea, resting several players, including Miguel, and losing 1-0 at Athletic Bilbao. Hugo Viana played the full match for Los Ches.

Jose Nunes scored his fourth goal of the season for Mallorca as they won 2-0 at home against Getafe. The former Braga defender opened the scoring on 63 minutes for the Islanders, before Oscar Trejo’s 93rd minute strike sealed the points.

Atletico Madrid were without the injured Maniche as they won 1-0 at Villarreal, with Costinha coming on as a second half substitute for Los Rojiblancos, who left Ze Castro on the bench. Jorge Andrade was in the Deportivo La Coruna backline as they beat Gimnastic 1-0 at the Riazor.

Former Sporting defender Beto was unavailable for Recreativo as they were 4-2 winners over Celta Vigo at Nuevo Colombino stadium. Miguel Areias was not in the squad for Celta, who remain in the relegation zone.

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Others

Belgium

Standard Liege’s outside hopes of the Jupiler League title were all but ended after they lost 1-0 to leaders Anderlecht on Friday. Sa Pinto played for 66 minutes for Standard, who are now nine points off top spot with six games remaining.

Cyprus

There were no domestic fixtures in Cyprus this week.

Greece

There were no domestic fixtures in Greece this weekend.

Holland

PSV’s disastrous run in the Dutch Eredivisie continued as they were beaten 2-1 at NEC Nijmegen, with Manuel da Costa starting but replaced on 82 minutes. The champions now see their lead at the top cut to just two points, following their fourth league game without a win.

Ajax missed the chance to draw level with PSV at the top, but were held to a 2-2 draw at RKC Waalwijk, for whom Virgilio Teixeira was a last-minute substitute.

Poland

Zaglebie’s title hopes suffered a blow as they lost their top of the table showdown with league leaders GKS Belchatow 3-1 on Thursday. Rui Miguel came on as a 61st minute substitute for Zaglebie, who now trail Belchatow by three points with ten games left.

Romania

There were no domestic fixtures in Romania this weekend.

Russia

Dynamo Moscow registered their first win of the new Russian season after a 2-1 home win over city rivals Lokomotiv. Danny played for Dynamo, who have one win, two draws and one defeat from their opening four games.

Fabio Felicio played 83 minutes of Rubin Kazan’s 1-0 defeat at Spartak Nalchik.

Scotland

Jose Goncalves was sent off in the last minute for Hearts as the Edinburgh side beat Kilmarnock 1-0 at Tynecastle. Bruno Aguiar also started for the Jambos, and was withdrawn with over fifteen minutes to go, before Goncalves was dismissed for raising his hands during a late argument.

Pedro Moutinho’s goal last week earned him a start for Falkirk at Inverness, but was taken off with over twenty minutes left as his side drew 1-1. Vitor Lima watched the match from the Falkirk bench.

Switzerland

Carlitos was in the Sion side for their 3-1 victory at FC Thun. Joao Pinto made his return from injury to take a place on the bench for Sion, while Nelson Ferreira was in the Thun side.

Roberto Pinto played the full ninety minutes for Grasshoppers in their 0-0 draw with St Gallen, and Carlos da Silva played 80 minutes for Schaffhausen 1-0 home defeat to Young Boys.

Turkey

Neca scored the opening goal from the penalty spot as Konyaspor beat Ankaragucu 2-0 on Sunday to stay in sixth place in the Turkcell Süper Lig. The on-loan midfielder scored from the spot on 36 minutes, and Eren added a second on first half injury time.

Star Performer

Ricardo Carvalho (Chelsea)

Carvalho’s status as one of Chelsea’s unsung heroes gathered more weight as the defender scored the only goal of the game during a superb individual performance in the 1-0 win over Tottenham, as the Blues cut Manchester United’s lead at the top of the Premiership to just three points.

Earlier round-ups