7 May 2007, by Sean Gillen

   Portuguese abroad weekly roundup

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England - Premiership

Ronaldo decisive as United crowned champions

Manchester United clinched their 16th English league after extending their lead over Chelsea at the top of the Premiership to seven points with two games remaining.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored the only goal from the penalty spot as the Red Devils beat local rivals Manchester City 1-0 on Saturday, while Paulo Ferreira was in the Chelsea defence as Jose Mourinho’s men surrendered their crown with a 1-1 draw at Arsenal on Sunday.

Luis Boa Morte again played a crucial role as West Ham United pulled themselves out of the relegation zone with just one match of the season remaining. The Portuguese winger set up the second goal as the Hammers beat Bolton 3-1 at Upton Park, with Ricardo Vaz Te a second half substitute for the visitors.

Everton have all but secured European football for next season after Manuel Fernandes again impressed in a 3-0 home win over Portsmouth. Nuno Valente is still not fit enough to feature for the Toffees, while Pedro Mendes’ ankle injury continues to keep him out of Pompey’s run-in.

Abel Xavier was not in the Middlesbrough squad for the 1-0 win at Wigan Athletic. Ricardo Rocha’s Tottenham travel to Charlton Athletic on Monday evening.

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France - Ligue 1

PSG all but safe

Pedro Pauleta played 85 minutes for Paris Saint-Germain as the side from the capital moved seven points clear of the relegation zone with a 1-1 home draw against champions Lyon. Tiago was unavailable for the visitors.

Marco Ramos played the full match in defence for Lens as they beat Toulouse 2-0 at home to stay in second place in Ligue 1 with three games remaining.

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Germany - Bundesliga

Meira scores as Stuttgart keep up title chase

The Bundesliga title race looks to be heading right down to the wire as the top three in Germany all won this weekend. Stuttgart remain just one point adrift of leaders Schalke after Fernando Meira opened the scoring in a 2-0 victory over Mainz. Meanwhile, third placed Werder Bremen are still in the hunt after they won 4-1 at Hertha Berlin, without Hugo Almeida, to stay just one point further back.

Borussia Monchengladbach were relegated from the Bundesliga after Ze Antonio played in a 1-1 draw with Bayern Munich, which left the struggling side ten points adrift of safety with two games left.

Alex Domingos was on the bench for 15th place Wolfsburg as they lost 2-0 at home to Borussia Dortmund, while Sergio Pinto was taken off at half time as Alemannia Aachen were hammered 4-0 at Frankfurt.

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Italy - Serie A

Parma back in relegation trouble

Parma’s fight against relegation from Serie A took a knock as they were beaten 1-0 at relegation rivals Chievo. Fernando Couto played the full ninety minutes in defence for the Gialloblu, who sit one point above the drop zone with three games remaining.

Luis Figo played the final twenty-five minutes of champions Inter’s 1-0 win at Messina, while Jose Semedo was given a rare run-out for Cagliari, coming on as a 75th minute substitute in their 2-1 home win over Udinese. Jose Vidigal played the full match as Livorno lost 1-0 at high flying Lazio. In a quiet week for goals in Italy, while Ricardo Esteves watched from the bench as Reggina drew 0-0 at Sampdoria.

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Spain - La Liga

Traditional rivals battle it out for title

Leaders Barcelona won for the second week running to extend their lead at the top of La Liga, beating Real Sociedad 2-0 on Saturday without injured midfielder Deco. The champions have a new team chasing them in second place, however, after Real Madrid beat Sevilla 3-1 at the Bernabeu to leapfrog the Andalucians into second place. Duda was an unused substitute for Sevilla.

Fourth placed Valencia kept their faint title hopes alive with a 2-1 win at Deportivo La Coruna. Hugo Viana started, and gave Los Ches the lead in the 39th minute, while Miguel also played at right-back. Jorge Andrade played in defence for Deportivo.

Atletico Madrid’s disappointing recent form continued as they were beaten 2-1 at Uefa Cup finalists Espanyol. Costinha started the match, but was replaced with Maniche in the 78th minute, while Ze Castro watched from the bench.

Mallorca moved up to 12th place in La Liga as Jose Nunes played in a 3-1 home victory over Osasuna. Roberto Beto made a slow return to the Recreativo squad following a recent injury, taking a place on the bench for their 0-0 draw with Athletic Bilbao.

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Others

Belgium

Second place is now out of reach for Standard Liege after their 1-1 draw at Westerlo on Sunday evening. Sergio Conceicao played the full ninety minutes for Standard, picking up a yellow card, while Sa Pinto played the final eight minutes.

Cyprus

Champions APOEL signed off with a defeat on the last day of the Cypriot championship. Ricardo Fernandes played the full match for the champions, while Helio Pinto was introduced for the final 22 minutes.

Runners up Omonia were without their Portuguese, Pedro Torrao and Edgar Marcelinho, as they beat Nea Salamina 4-0 at home. Joao Paiva scored for Apollon in their 1-1 draw with AEK Larnaca.

Olympiakos escaped relegation by drawing 0-0 with nearest rivals Digenis to keep a three-point gap between the sides. Hugo Machado played the full match for Olympiakos, who staged a remarkable run in the second half of the season to climb out of the relegation zone and stay in the Cypriot top flight.

Greece

AE Larissa stunned Panathinaikos to win the Greek Cup with a 2-1 victory. Portuguese forward Filipe da Costa missed the triumph through injury, as relegation battlers Larissa won thanks to goals from Joszef Kozlei and Henri Adsue.

Holland

The Dutch season has finished.

Poland

Rui Miguel came on as a second half substitute for Zaglebie as they stayed level on points with Polish league leaders GKS Belchatow after a 2-0 win over Korona.

Romania

Antonio Semedo was again on the scoresheet for CFR Cluj, scoring a last minute winner as his side beat Rapid Bucharest 3-2 in the Romanian top flight. Defenders Tony and Fredy, midfielders Manuel Jose, Dani and Pedro Oliveira joined Semedo in the Cluj starting line-up.

Russia

Dinamo Moscow won for the third match in a row as they beat Spartak Nalchik 2-0 at home on Saturday. Danny played the full ninety minutes in attack for Dinamo, and was initially awarded the credit for the first goal, but the strike has since been given to team-mate Dimitri Khokhlov. Forward Cicero was not involved for Dynamo.

Scotland

Vitor Lima was in the starting line-up and Pedro Moutinho was a late introduction as Falkirk were 1-0 winners over Inverness Caledonian Thistle. Hearts were without Jose Goncalves and Bruno Aguiar for their 1-1 home draw with Aberdeen.

Switzerland

Grasshoppers scored the biggest result of the weekend in the Swiss league, hammering Luzern 6-1 away from home. Roberto Pinto played for seventy minutes on the winning side, while the Luzern defence was without Luis Calapes.

Joao Pinto and Carlitos were both in the starting line-up for FC Sion in their 3-0 victory over Schaffhausen. Defender Pinto was taken off after an hour, while Carlitos lasted 78 minutes. The visitors were without Carlos da Silva.

FC Thun were missing Nelson Ferreira for their 0-0 draw at FC Zurich.

Turkey

On-loan midfielder Neca started for Konyaspor as they beat Gençlerbirligi 2-1 at home on Saturday to move up to seventh place in the Turkcell Süper Lig with three games left to play.

Star Performer

Fernando Meira (Stuttgart)

Captain Meira led his side to another important victory over Mainz, scoring the first in a 2-0 win as Stuttgart continue to fight Schalke all the way for the Bundesliga title.

Earlier round-ups