27 March 2006, by Sean Gillen

Portuguese Abroad round-up

Fernando Couto drops hint to Scolari

Jose Mourinho used two of his Portuguese stars as Chelsea beat Manchester City 2-0 at Stamford Bridge in the Premiership. Nuno Valente and Ricardo Vaz Te did not feature for their clubs and Pedro Mendes’ Portsmouth had their game with Arsenal called off due to wet weather.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s Manchester United carried on their winning streak against Birmingham and Luis Boa Morte’s Fulham earned a rare away point at Aston Villa.

In Spain, Miguel started and Hugo Viana came on as Valencia continue to struggle with form, going down 1-0 at Seville. Deco was rested as Barcelona drew 0-0 with Malaga, who started with winger Duda and introduced forward Edgar late on.

In Serie A, Luis Figo was ruled out of Inter’s 1-0 defeat at Parma with injury; the winger faces a race against time to be fit for his side’s Champions League tie with Villarreal on Tuesday. Fernando Couto started the game for Parma.

Rui Costa played the final 10 minutes of Milan’s 3-1 win over Fiorentina and Jose Vidigal watched Udinese’s 1-1 draw with Messina from the bench.

In Germany, Fernando Meira played as 7th-placed Stuttgart suffered a 2-0 home loss to Bayer Leverkusen and Ricardo Sousa was introduced for the last 20 minutes of Hannover’s 5-0 defeat at Werder Bremen.

Lyon included Tiago but were held 1-1 at home by Toulouse in Le Championnat, while Pauleta played the full 90 minutes as 8th-placed PSG drew 1-1 at Monaco. Beto was missing for Bordeaux’s 1-0 win over Nice and Jose Delfim did not feature during Marseille’s 1-1 draw with Le Mans. Helder Postiga was subbed with 10 minutes to go after failing to make an impact in St. Etienne’s stalemate with Auxerre.

In Belgium, Standard Liege lost ground on leaders Anderlecht after a 0-0 draw at Charleroi. Sergio Conceição was the only Portuguese making an appearance for Standard.

Star Performer

Fernando Couto

The veteran Portuguese defender took his place in the heart of the Parma defence as the Gialloblu beat Inter 1-0 to record their 4th straight victory and all but secure their Serie A status for next season. With a central defender’s spot up for grabs in Portugal’s World Cup squad following Jorge Andrade’s injury, Couto has given himself a chance of a surprise recall.

Earlier round-ups:
20/02/06 Star Performer - Miguel
27/02/06 Star Performer - Cristiano Ronaldo
06/03/06 Star Performer - Sérgio Conceição
13/03/06 Star Performer - Pedro Mendes
20/03/06 Star Performer - Luís Boa Morte