Iberian leagues bucking the trend

WITH the Italian, French and English leagues looking increasingly like a one-horse race, it’s refreshing to see that the competition elsewhere is hotting up.

Five points separate first from fifth in both Spain and Portugal, and it's notable that smaller clubs such as Braga and Nacional, the team from Madeira, are setting the pace in Portugal, while three of the top five in Spain are also outsiders.

Benfica's game at Porto on Saturday night had been billed as the Dutch derby, with Ronald Koeman now managing the team from Lisbon, while Co Adrianse is in charge at Porto. Adrianse has never beaten Koeman, and so it proved again, as Porto lost 2-0 in front of a capacity 55,000 crowd.