Lisbon, Portugal – Sporting Lisbon's season hasn't gone exactly as planned, and things got worse on Monday as the club squandered a second-half lead to lose 3-1 at home against Benfica.
With only two wins from its first 10 games this season, a victory over high- flying Benfica would have been a major result, and things started well with Ricky van Wolfswinkel firing Sporting in front on the half-hour mark.
But things started to fall apart in the second half as an own goal from Sporting's Marcos Rojo leveled the contest.
The final 10 minutes saw the home side come completely unraveled as Khalid Boulahrouz picked up a red card in the 80th minute for a foul inside the area, which allowed Benfica to take the lead through Oscar Cardozo's subsequent penalty kick.
Cardozo then sealed the win five minutes later with his second goal of the match, returning Benfica to the top of the league along with FC Porto, which beat Moreirense, 1-0, on a second-half goal from Jackson Martinez on Saturday.
The lone contest on Friday saw Estoril hand Setubal a 3-0 defeat, while the other game on Monday was won 4-1 by Braga at Academica.
On Sunday, Beira Mar topped Gil Vicente, 2-1, with Javier Balboa netting the winning goal in the 87th minute, Maritimo downed Nacional, 2-0, with second- half goals from Fidelis and Leocisio Sami, Guimaraes doubled up on Olhanense, 2-0 and Rio Ave was held to a 0-0 draw at home by Pacos Ferreira despite playing the final 30 minutes of the game up a man.
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