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| Tuesday, 03 May 2011 09:04 |
Naval hanging on by a thread; Nacional Europa League bound?Liga ZON Sagres weekend wrap  With two matches remaining the fight to avoid relegation is still alive – just. The bottom four all lost, making Portimonense and Naval strong favourites for the drop. At the other end of the table, Nacional moved into a Europa League qualification position. Naval woe, Nacional joyLoses by Vitoria Setubal and Portimonense, opened the door for Naval to make up some ground in their hopes to avoid relegation, but the ‘Figueirenses’ failed to take advantage, losing to Nacional 2-1. Nacional opened up the scoring in the 25th minute with a well-taken goal from Diego Barcellos. Claudemir doubled the lead on 31 minutes from the penalty spot for the ‘madeirenses’. Bolivia pulled one back for Naval just shy of the break.
Nacional now find themselves in 5th place, which would mean Europa league action next season. Naval, meanwhile, sit five points from safety with two rounds to go.
Pacos Ferreira victorious against 10-man Vitoria GuimaraesGuimaraes struck first with Faouzi scoring in the 19th minute. But Faouzi would see his day end early as he received his second yellow just before half time, in giving away a penalty to Pacos. Olimpio made no mistake from the spot and the teams went into the interval all square.
Pacos finally took advantage of the extra man advantage in the 85th minute, when Rui Caetano scored the go-ahead goal giving the three points to the home side.
Beira-Mar dent Rio Ave’s European hopesPlaying the role of spoiler, Beira-Mar, who have comfortably secured another year in the Portuguese Liga, played out a draw at home against Rio Ave, 1-1. Yohan scored for the home side in the 15th minute. Tarantini pulled one back for Rio Ave just after the break, but there was no further scoring. Rio Ave sit in 6th place, two points from the final Europa League spot.
Leiria hold Braga to guarantee Liga spot next seasonA scoreless draw at Braga was enough to see Leiria safe in the Liga for another season. Braga, on the other hand, may live to regret spurning several scoring chances and dropping two points. The Arsenalistas are tied in 3rd place with Sporting with two matches remaining, the last one of which is between the two sides.
Academica fall to MaritimoBaba’s early goal in the 4th minute of the game was enough to snag three points for Maritimo. The islanders still have an outside chance of Europa league qualification, but they will need help from teams higher up in the standings. Academica have all but secured their place in the Liga. It would take a highly unlikely combination of results to see them slip into the relegation zone.
by Antonio Fresco
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Portugal will have 4 teams in EL next season.
Vitoria Guimaraes are in Europa League, even if they lose the final to Porto. If they win it they go straight to the play-off. If not, the 3rd-place team will go into the play-off, while 4th & 5th placed teams & Guimaraes will have to go through qualification rounds.
Just curious to know.
Thanks.