1 May 2006, by Sean Gillen

Portuguese Abroad round-up

Chelsea celebrate championship in style

Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea wrapped up their second successive title after beating Manchester United 3-0 at Stamford Bridge. Mourinho selected Paulo Ferreira and Ricardo Carvalho for the win, while Maniche made a late substitute appearance. Cristiano Ronaldo played for United but was replaced with 25 minutes to go.

There was also good news for Pedro Mendes as Portsmouth’s 2-1 win at Wigan confirmed their safety from relegation. Ricardo Vaz Te came on as a second half substitute as Bolton’s 1-0 loss at Tottenham all but ended their European hopes.

Luis Boa Morte played as Fulham recorded a long overdue first away win of the season with a 2-1 victory at Manchester City. Nuno Valente watched Everton’s 1-0 win at Middlesbrough from the bench after returning from injury.

Barcelona are just one win away from the title after a side containing Deco beat Cadiz 1-0 at the Camp Nou. Valencia and Miguel continued their hunt for second place with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Alaves but Malaga are almost relegated, as Duda could not prevent them from losing 3-2 at home against Racing.

In Serie A, Milan kept up their pursuit of leaders Juventus with a 2-0 win against Livorno, with Rui Costa playing the full 90 minutes for the Rossoneri. Luis Figo was withdrawn shortly after half time as Inter slumped to a 1-0 defeat at Empoli. Fernando Couto played as Parma lost 3-1 at Cagliari and Jose Vidigal missed Udinese’s 1-1 draw at Sampdoria.

In Germany, Fernando Meira’s Stuttgart lost 2-0 at home to Frankfurt, while Ricardo Sousa watched from the bench as his Hanover side lost 1-0 at Kaiserslautern. Ze Antonio was the only Bundesliga-based Portuguese to pick up a point, his Gladbach side drawing 2-2 with Hertha Berlin.

Pedro Pauleta won his first medal in Paris as PSG beat arch rivals Marseille 2-1 in the French Cup final. Lyon returned to form with a convincing 4-0 win over St Etienne, with Tiago putting in an impressive performance. Helder Postiga (St Etienne), Jose Delfim (Marseille) and Beto (Bordeaux) all missed their sides’ matches this weekend in La Championnat.

Hearts produced their result of the season, beating champions Celtic 3-0 in the Scottish Premier League. Jose Goncalves is still injured but Bruno Aguiar played the full match as Hearts move 4 points ahead of 3rd placed Rangers and remain in line for a Champions League place.

In Belgium, Standard Liege were gifted an opportunity to go level on points with Anderlecht after the leaders dropped points. But Standard, including Almani Moreira, could only manage a disappointing 0-0 draw at 12th place Roeselare. The result leaves Standard two points behind Anderlecht going into the final week of the season.

Steaua Bucharest’s nightmare week went from bad to worse as they turned their attention back to their league campaign. Carlos kept goal for Steaua as they followed up their UEFA Cup semi-final defeat in midweek with a 2-0 home loss against city rivals Rapid. The result sees Steaua drop to third, three points behind new leaders Rapid, although Steaua have 2 games in hand.

Dinamo Moscow at last got their first league win of the season at the 7th time of asking. Danny played the full 90 minutes in a 2-1 victory over Luch Energya.

Star Performer

Ricardo Carvalho

After recent reports that he is to be sold in the summer, Carvalho reminded everyone of his quality, putting in an outstanding performance and scoring the third goal in Chelsea’s title-clinching 3-0 win over Manchester United.

Earlier round-ups:
20/02/06 Star Performer - Miguel
27/02/06 Star Performer - Cristiano Ronaldo
06/03/06 Star Performer - Sergio Conceicao
13/03/06 Star Performer - Pedro Mendes
20/03/06 Star Performer - Luis Boa Morte
27/03/06 Star Performer - Fernando Couto
03/04/06 Star Performer - Pauleta
10/04/06 Star Performer - Jorge Costa
17/04/06 Star Performer - Luis Boa Morte
24/04/06 Star Performer - Ricardo Vaz Te