The Lisbon Derby is now official in the books and both Benfica and Sporting went into this matchup looking to one up the other but this was not the case for either team as the game ended as it started with a scoreless sheet for both keepers Quim & Rui Patricio. Sporting started the game on the offensive but numerous crosses were caught by Quim and nothing much came off them, Benfica then get the first real chance of the game when Cardozo gets set down the wing and his shot goes just wide of the net. Benfica then start to control the first half and have numerous shots blocked by Sporting defenders. Sporting did not get their first real chance of the half until about the 30th minute mark when Polga shot the ball off the side of the net on a Sporting corner. Liedson then let a howitzer go that was stopped by Quim. Benfica then takes over for the rest of the first half and have numerous shots, stopped, wide or blocked. Ramires on the far wing took a shot that was stopped by Patricio, next up was Pablo Aimar who had his shot punched wide by Sporting's keeper. Javier Saviola then had his low cross stopped by Patricio and yet then Angel Di Maria fakes a shot and sends a pass to the open field that can not be caught by any Benfica player. Sporting were lucky to get out of the half with the game scoreless.The second half started much as the first had ended with Benfica in the Sporting zone. David Luiz's shot sailed over the Sporting net and then Angel Di Maria shot clangs of the outside of his foot and the ball goes harmlessly out of bounds as he is attacking the Sporting net. Sporting finally get a great chance just over ten minutes into the second half when Miguel Veloso's shot it knocked wide by Quim. The Sporting corner then results in a Vukcevic weak shot that is easily handled by Quim. Javi Garcia suffered a cut to his head at around the 60th minute mark and returned to the game with his head bandaged but this would cause problems for the Benfica midfielder as he would seek treatment for the rest of the game as the blood continued to flow until the final whistle. Jorge Jesus surprisingly did not use one of his substitutions to take Garcia out. The game became quite chippy as both teams looked to win the matchup and the yellow cards and fouls were handed out continously by the match official. Then the biggest non call of the game happened when Ramires looked to cross inside the Sporting box and it was at this moment that Anderson Polga's arm got in the way of the cross. The Benfica players howled for the hand ball call but the referee signaled to play on. TV replays showed that the referee clearly missed the call. Sporting was then awarded a free kick just outside of Benfica's box but Veloso's shot struck the wall and no harm was done. The final big chance of the game was for Benfica's Di Maria who had his shot deflected and the bouncing ball ended up with Ramires but the Benfica midfielder could not control the ball and it was sent over the net.
The Referee blew the final whistle and both teams settled for a hard fought draw. This game was our first live Twittugal game of the season for the Portuguese League and for those who followed us we hope you enjoyed the live Tweets and we plan to do this again for any other big games played this season, anyone that would like to see what happened during the game in Tweet mode just click here to review the game tweets. Braga will now look to regain top spot in the Portuguese League with a win over Uniao de Leiria on Monday, while Sporting need to hope the teams below them draw or lose as they could be sitting in 8th spot when the week is all done.





















