Liga Sagres: Porto lucky while weather plays havoc in Madeira

Porto’s runaway Liga Sagres campaign continues, but they could be considered fortunate to emerge 1-0 victors over Vitoria Setubal on Monday.

While Nacional de Madeira and Naval de Maio’s clash was again postponed after its rescheduling from Sunday, a contentious penalty from Brazilian strike Hulk was enough to clinch the win for Porto at Estadio do Dragao.

But the result could have been different had Setubal not missed their own spot kick in the 91st minute.

It was a far-from-convincing performance from the home side, who lead the league by eight points after 13 games.

While they won the encounter’s possession count 59 percent to 41, they lacked cutting edge and only managed to take the lead when forward Falcao went down easily in the box under negligent contact from Setubal’s French defender Aurelien Collin on 42 minutes.

Hulk made no mistake from the spot to hand his side a half-time lead.

Setubal refused to let the game go, however, and they went desperately close when Brazilian frontman Jailson’s shot was deflected just wide after he got on the end of a counter attack in the 70th minute.

But it was to prove a frustrating night for Jailson. In the game’s first minute of stoppage time, Uruguay defender Fucile was adjudged to have committed a foul in the penalty area.

Jailson assumed responsibility for the spot kick, but skied his shot well over.

Porto have not lost in any competition this season, while Setubal stay in 13th on the table and with a five-point buffer to the relegation zone.