FC Porto returned home and to victories, beating CD Tondela (2-0), which, combined with the result in the Lisbon derby, allows them to extend their lead over their closest rivals at the top of the table. With four matchdays remaining in the league, the Dragons now lead Benfica by seven points (72) and Sporting by eight (71), with the latter having a game in hand.

Francesco Farioli made seven changes to the starting eleven that faced Nottingham – bringing in Jakub Kiwior, Alan Varela, Victor Froholdt, Rodrigo Mora, Pepê, Oskar Pietuszewski and Deniz Gül to replace Thiago Silva, Pablo Rosario, Seko Fofana, Gabri Veiga, William Gomes, Borja Sainz and Terem Moffi - and the Polish defender gave an early warning in the second minute.

Shortly afterwards, goalkeeper Bernardo Fontes began to make his presence felt, deflecting a shot from Alan Varela into a corner, and there were calls for penalty on two occasions inside the visitors’ box: on the first, the referee pointed to the spot, but the VAR overturned the decision, and on the second, Jan Bednarek complained of dangerous play by Christian Marques, but no one from the refereeing team signalled the foul.

In a one-sided first half (12-2 in shots), chances came thick and fast and the Dragons threatened to open the scoring on numerous occasions – Deniz Gül, Oskar Pietuszewski, Alan Varela and Kiwior all came close – but the best chance came in the 39th minute, when Varela stepped up to the penalty spot and saw the opposing goalkeeper save a penalty awarded for handball.

Before half-time, Bernardo Fontes once again shone to stop a curling shot from Pietuszewski that looked certain to go in. Unsatisfied with the tie, Francesco Farioli made a double substitution at half-time – taking off Jakub Kiwior and Rodrigo Mora and bringing on Pablo Rosario and Gabri Veiga – and the Spanish midfielder needed just three minutes to make his mark following some fine work by Deniz Gül with his back to goal (1-0).

After Thiago Silva came on and Zaidu went off, and having already threatened to extend the lead following a cross from the Nigerian international, Victor Froholdt did it all himself (and did it well): he won the ball back, dribbled past every opponent in his path and fired into the back of the CD Tondela net, doubling the blue and white side’s lead (2-0).

William Gomes replaced Oskar Pietuszewski shortly afterwards and set up Froholdt with a perfect pass, but the CD Tondela goalkeeper denied the Danish international a second goal with a superb save. With Seko Fofana now on the pitch and Deniz Gül on the bench, Bednarek came within centimetres of making it 3-0 following a corner superbly taken by Gabri Veiga.