3 April 2006, by Sean Gillen

Portuguese Abroad round-up

Goal joy for Pauleta and Tiago in France

The biggest game in Europe this week saw Barcelona, including Deco, draw against Real Madrid at the Nou Camp in Spain. Miguel’s Valencia moved closer to second-placed Real after beating Cadiz 5-3 at home. Duda and Edgar made appearances as 9-man Malaga edged further towards the drop with a 3-0 loss at Real Sociedad.

After Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea failed to beat Birmingham at St Andrews, Manchester United and Cristiano Ronaldo beat Bolton to cut the champions’ lead at the top of the Premiership.

Ricardo Vaz Te was missing for Bolton, as was the injured Nuno Valente for Everton in their draw with Sunderland, but Pedro Mendes’ Portsmouth continued their push for survival with a 3-1 win at Luis Boa Morte’s Fulham.

In Serie A, a rare start for Milan’s Rui Costa proved unhappy as his team fell to a shock 1-0 defeat at Lecce. Luis Figo, battling an injury, sat out Inter’s 3-0 win over Messina. Parma missed Fernando Couto as they went down 2-0 to Udinese, for whom Jose Vidigal remained on the bench.

Portuguese goals in France

In Le Championnat, Pauleta grabbed the headlines with a hat-trick against Bordeaux, who arrived in the capital without defender Beto. Tiago, who will miss the midweek Champions League tie against Milan through suspension, scored the winner as a weakened Lyon side won 1-0 at Troyes.

Helder Postiga was subbed with 25 minutes left as St Etienne drew 1-1 with Monaco and Jose Delfim again failed to earn a place in Marseille’s match squad.

A bad week for Portugal’s Bundesliga duo saw Fernando Meira’s Suttgart lose 2-0 at Hertha Berlin and Ricardso Sousa’s Hannover slump to a 1-0 home defeat to Arminia Bielefeld.

Standard Liege cut Anderlecht’s lead at the top of the Juliper League to one point as they beat Mouscron 2-1, with Almani Moreira the only one of their Portuguese contingent to feature.

Star Performer

Pauleta

The Paris Saint-Germain captain came back to haunt his old club with three excellently taken goals to beat Bordeaux at the Parc Des Princes. Pauleta is yet again top scorer in France.

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
27/03/06 Star Performer - Fernando Couto