Portugal: Martins leads Benfica to victory

(GSM) – Benfica beat Vitoria Guimaraes 3-1 on Saturday to move back into shared first place in the Portuguese top flight.

Joint-leaders Sporting Braga had already beaten Sporting Lisbon in Friday’s top clash, leaving all the pressure on Benfica to take three points from their home game with Guimaraes.

Benfica started well as Argentinian midfielder Pablo Aimar put the Lisbon outfit ahead on 17 minutes, but Nuno Assis levelled the score two minutes after the half hour.

But midfielder Carlos Martins saved the day for the home side, putting Benfica back in the lead in the 51st minute and adding a security goal ten minutes later, 3-1.

Third-placed Porto remained at six points from the top two with a 0-4 victory at Nacional. Silvestre Varela and Radamel Falcao each scored twice.