Glorioso SLB!!

Benfica spanks Porto in the Carlsberg Cup 3-0...


Highlights

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Liga Sagres Highlights

Porto and Braga picked up wins on Saturday while Benfica came up with a close win against Nacional in Madeira on Sunday. The encarnados still remain 3 points ahead of Braga and 11 points ahead of Porto. Sporting also continue their good form winning their 3rd straight league fixture 3-1 against Vitoria Guimaraes.

Nacional 0 SL Benfica 1

Academica 1 FC Porto 2

More Liga Sagres Highlights

Tuesday's Champions League Highlights

Porto suffered an embarrassing loss at the Emirates thanks to Nicklas Bendtner's hat trick, which made up for his dismal performance over the weekend against Burnley. Check out Samir Nasri's ridiculous goal dribbling through almost all of Porto's defense.

The most exciting match of the day also had a tally of 5 goals. A back-and-forth second half capped off by a brilliant Robben strike saw Munchen advance by the slimmest of margins. Unfortunately for Fiorentina a terrible decision in the 1st leg (an offside goal by Klose) cost them the opportunity to advance to the quarter finals.

Poppa's Picks: Champions League Edition

Today's Games

Porto X Arsenal 2:45PM ET
Porto head to London up 2-1 on aggregate after a favorable 1st leg.  However the Dragons are struggling, tying their last fixture against Olhanense and dropping a goose egg in a 3-0 loss to Sporting.  Arsenal are in much better form, but they'll miss Cesc Fabregas and Aaron Ramsey along with the players that were out last leg ( RvP, Gallas).  Porto has never won in London, losing 6 times there, including a loss earlier this Champs League season at Stamford Bridge.  Everything seems to favor Arsenal which is why I'm taking Porto today to leave England with a 1-1 tie.  Goal from Falcao, and watch out for little Arshavin.

Bayern Munich X Fiorentina 2:45PM ET
The Germans will be in Florence today after tying 1-1 to a Koln goal by former Bayern forward Lukas Podolski.  Fiorentina on the otherhand just lost a heart breaker 2-1 to Juventus.  Bayern have done very well in Italy as of late, their last result a 4-1 defeat of Juventus last season.  They also tied Fiorentina 1-1 last year in Florence in the group stage.  Not to mention the Germans have 7 wins and 3 draws in their last 13 away fixtures.  I say they hang on 1-1 in Italy, with goals from van Bommel and Gilardino.

Wednesday's Games

Real Madrid X Lyon - Wednesday 2:45PM ET
No away goals for Madrid means they need to score early and often to assure their spot in the next round.  They are definitely capable of putting away 3 or 4, as we saw this past weekend in a thrilling 3-2 win against Sevilla.  But don't underestimate this Lyon squad with the likes of Michel Bastos and Bamatimbe Gomis exploding off the bench.  I believe Real Madrid will win 2-1, but lose in aggregate due to a sneaky goal from the French side.  Scorers: Higuain, Kaka, Lisandro Lopez.

Manchester United X AC Milan - Wednesday 2:45PM ET
All eyes will be on the return leg at Old Trafford.  Will Beckham get the start?  Can Rooney keep scoring?  Will Clarence Seedorf lead another Champions League title run??  Sorry, but no.  Manchester have been solid at home this season as usual.  With a 3-2 lead going into the match, I am going to tip my hat to Sir Alex and take Manchester to hold strong.  However they will lose 2-1 at the hands of Ronaldinho and Thiago Silva goals.  Rio Ferdinand will put one in for the homeside to clinch a spot in the next round.

Sporting Turn Porto into the Laughing Stock

Sporting 3 Porto 0

News from Portugal

Boy, Sporting C.P. needs help real badly.  They should probably focus on trying to bring Guus Hiddink in next year.  This team needs a revamping more than Pedro Mendes and Sinama-Pongolle can help them out with.  After losing to Sp. Braga 1-0 Friday, Sporting took a 5-2 shellacking from under form Porto to get knocked out of the Portuguese Cup.  Highlights below..



Meanwhile, looks like the Manuel Fernandes deal did not go through.  Apparently, the two clubs were unable to settle the loan deal before the transfer window closed. [link]

Porto sign 19 year-old Ghanian David Addy from Randers FC (Denmark) for €800,000 [link]

Benfica host Uniao Leiria today at 4:00PM ET in an effort to slip away from Sp. Braga. [ATDHE]