Liga Sagres wrap: Benfica edge closer, Porto held by Sporting

Benfica took advantage of a Porto draw to close the gap on the Liga Sagres leaders to eight points with a win over Beira-Mar on Sunday.

After winning 10 of their first 12 games to open up a commanding lead on top of the table, Porto finally dropped two points with a 1-1 draw away to Sporting Lisbon on Saturday.

Benfica made the most of the rare opportunity to make up ground, winning 3-1 away to mid-table Beira-Mar.

Paraguay international Oscar Cardozo scored a goal in each half to put the visitors two up at the Municipal de Aveiro, before former Barcelona man Javier Saviola made it three in the 66th minute.

Rui Varela pulled one back with five minutes to go, but it was too late for the home side to find a way back into the game.

Rio Ave put valuable ground between themselves and the relegation zone thanks to a 1-0 win away to hapless Naval de Maio, with Bruno Gama grabbing the winner in the 38th minute at the Estadio Jose Bento Pessoa.

Naval, rooted to the foot of the table with just five points from 12 games, finished on nine men after Alexandre Hauw and Nicolas Godemeche received red cards in the last six minutes of the match.

Braga climbed to sixth with a 2-0 win at home to Nacional, courtesy of second-half strikes from Lima and Paulo Cesar.

Both sides finished with 10 men after Nacional’s Danijel Stojanovic and Braga’s Leandro Salino received second yellow cards in the space of three minutes.

The match between Portimonense and Leiria was called off in the 51st minute due to a power outage and will be resumed on Monday with Portimonense leading 1-0.