Liga Sagres: Porto 2 Vitoria Guimaraes 0

Unbeaten Porto made it nine league wins in a row with a routine 2-0 dismissal of 10-man Vitoria Guimaraes in the Liga Sagres on Saturday.

Falcao was on hand to put the hosts ahead just after the hour, and Guimares conceded a late second goal to Cristian Rodriguez after losing Mahamadou N’Dyiae to second caution in the 87th minute.

Leading scorer Hulk was absent from Porto’s line-up at the Estadio do Dragao, handing Colombian youngster James Rodriguez a chance to impress in his place.

But it was Guimaraes who threatened first, when Porto right-back Fucile dallied and Tiago Targino stole in behind the defence.

But the home side’s goalkeeper Helton was equal to the angled shot, and that was to be as busy as he would be for the first half as Porto soon began to dictate terms.

Falcao went close on six minutes, but his left-foot snap-shot was parried by Guimaraes goalkeeper Nilson.

Maicon should have put Porto in front just one minute later, heading poorly went presented with an almost-empty goalmouth from a free kick.

Uruguay international midfielder Alvaro Pereira shot wide on 28 minutes when a cross might have been a better option, but Guimaraes was able to hold out to the half-time break.

A tepid start to the second period was broken by Falcao on 67 minutes, with the Colombia striker getting on the end of a slide-rule through ball to score his 11th league goal of the season.

Fredy Guarin’s long-range volley was beaten away by Nilson five minutes later as Porto pushed for a second, which they eventually found following N’Dyiae’s sending off.

The build-up was a thing of beauty, as Pereira collected a Guimaraes corner kick at left back and swept a long ball forward that was in turn played on to Rodriguez steaming down the middle.

The Uruguayan midfielder charged into the area, drew Nilson forward and slid in a perfect glance past the goalkeeper to the far post.

Porto improve to an 11-point gap over second-placed Benfica, who will take on Sporting Braga on Sunday.