By FRANCO PANIZO

Sacha Kljestan has quietly put together a solid season for RSC Anderlecht, but he made some noise in the club's latest win on Sunday.

Kljestan scored his third goal of the season (fourth across all competitions) in Anderlecht's 4-2 win over Racing Genk when he fired home a free kick from 30 yards out.

Benfica's Bruno Cesar and Jardel were involved in a car accident in Portugal around 9pm on the 20th, both players were unharmed and were passengers in a car driven by a friend. Jorge Jesus was glad that both players were not hurt and revealed that he has also been in a few accidents this season the latest being on Christmas Eve.

Week 15 saw Benfica maintain their two point lead over Porto as the season hit the midway point. Benfica earned a convincing 4-1 win over Setubal while Porto stayed pace with a 2-0 win over Rio Ave. In what amounted to the game of the week, Braga defeated Sporting 2-1 to move into sole spot of third place in the Portuguese league as Sporting drop to fourth.

Week 14 has finally seen a team take sole spot atop Portugal for the first time since Week 4. Benfica now sits atop the Portuguese League after their commanding 4-0 win over U. Leiria as FC Porto was held to a scoreless draw versus Sporting. Benfica are two points clear of Porto as the season is one week away from the half point.

There's a report in the Daily Mirror that Newcastle are chasing Ederzito. The lad just turned 24 lat month his full name is Ederzito Antonio Macedo Lopes and he plays for Academica in the Portuguese league and stands 6'2″ tall. Academia are currently 6th top of the Portuguese League and supposedly Sunderland, West [.

The 2011 year in now behind us and as we now move forward in 2012, we take a look at ten things that should happen for all Portuguese fans this year. 1- Cristiano Ronaldo will win the La Liga Golden Boot 2- Portugal will reach the semi-finals of Euro 2012 3- Porto's Hulk & Benfica's Gaitan will be sold in the summer 4- Benfica will reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League 5- FC

Week 13 saw the see saw battle between Benfica and FC Porto continue as Benfica took the league lead by three points after a 5-1 win Friday over Rio Ave. FC Porto then matched the Eagles with a 2-0 victory over Maritimo as both clubs remain tied for the top spot in Portugal. Sporting slipped six points back after drawing on the road to Academica 1-1.

Week 11 kicked off after a long hiatus due to International play and the Taca de Portugal qualifying. Beira Mar defeated Academica 1-0 to move into sixth place in the league. Saturday was Derby day in the league as Nacional played Martimo to a 2-2 draw in Madeira, while Benfica hosted Sporting at the Luz.

Pressure mounting on Villas-Boas at Chelsea - SI.com.

When Chelsea selected ex-Porto manager Andre Villas-Boas to be their new leader last summer, many fans were scratching their heads to figure out who he was, and why he was chosen, but people in the game however, had no reservations about his ability to lead the London club back to it's trophy winning ways, as he had led Porto to a treble winning season in 2011 with Portuguese League, Cup and Europa League triumphs.

Week 10 kicked off with a loud bang as Guimaraes thumped Pacos Ferreira 5-1 leaping them out of the cellar and into a tie for 10th place in Portugal. Maritimo then on Saturday defeated Academica 3-2 temporarily moving the club into third place in the league. Porto was then held on the road by Olhanense, playing the Algarve club to a scoreless draw.

A lot will made of Chelsea's lost against Arsenal last weekend. The defensive mistakes that cost the team have been a feature of their season throughout.

Rightly or wrongly much of the blame will be laid at the feet of Andres Villas-Boas. He is in charge of the team and is shaping it in the mould of Porto's offensive play.

Jose Mourinho and Andre Villas-Boas are both nominated finalists for the FIFA Coach of the Year along with eight other coaches from around the World. Mourinho the 2010 winner, snapped Real Madrid's run of 18 years without a Copa del Ray and took the club to the final four of the Champions League, while Villas-Boas won a treble with Porto taking home the Portuguese League, the Portuguese Cup

Week 9 started off with FC Porto earning a 3-0 victory over Pacos Ferreira and moving the club into sole position of first place in Portugal, this lasted less then 24 hours as Benfica earned a 2-1 victory over Olhanense while Braga lost ground on the leaders slipping five points back after playing Academica to a scoreless draw.

Week 8 started off with Pacos Ferreira getting the best of Academica 2-0. Olhanense defeated Guimaraes 1-0 while Benfica earned the only road win of the week 1-0 over Beira Mar and moved into top spot in the Portuguese League. Sunday saw the home team dominance of this Week take off as Maritimo defeated Setubal 1-0 to move into third place in the league.

Porto's Brazilian beast Hulk has been targeted by Wenger as a new powerhouse up front. Now called up into his country's full squad, the striker has been in decent form yet again this season with 3 goals from 6 games already. However, is the Portuguese league big enough to prove that he is good enough [.

Week 7 started off in Setubal where the home side won 2-1 to keep visiting Rio Ave winless on the season. Benfica then took it to Pacos Ferreira hammering the visiters 4-1 on Saturday. Sunday started with a few stumbles from clubs at the top of the league as Maritimo drew on the road 2-2 with Feirense and Braga suffered their first loss of the season 1-0 to Uniao de Leiria.

Maritimo's Baba left training early with what looked to be a right leg injury. The 23 year old Senegal striker was off to a great start to the season currently tied atop the Portuguese League with 5 goals so far this season.

Week 6 was kicked off with the Classico as Benfica travelled to Porto to take on FC Porto as last seasons number one and two met for the first time this season, in what was an entertaining contest Benfica came back from two times down to leave the Northern city with a 2-2 draw. Saturday, Braga pulled out a hard fought 2-0 victory over Nacional to move into a three way tie atop the

Week 5 took off on Friday with Gil Vicente scoring a late marker to draw against Olhanense, Nacional then earned their first victory of the season with a 1-0 win over Pacos Ferreira moving them out of the basement in Portugal. Sunday had Maritimo jump into fourth spot in the Portuguese League with their 3-1 win over Leiria.

Olhanense travelled to play Gil Vicente as Week 5 in the Portuguese League got underway, both clubs came into the game with only one win a peice but this did not change on this day. Olhanense opened the scoring late in the first half when Wilson Eduardo headed home a rebound of a Salvador Agra shot.

Week 4 commenced on Friday with defending Champions FC Porto maintaining their perfect start to the season as they defeated Setubal 3-0 for their fourth straight win and sit atop the Portuguese League. Saturday saw both Lisbon clubs in action as Benfica defeated Guimaraes 2-1 and Sporting came back from two goals down to Pacos Ferreira and scored three goals in the last 20 minutes to win 3-

Week 4 starts off in the same fashion for defending Champions FC Porto with the club earning their fourth straight victory of this short season. Setubal held the Dragons off the board as long as they could going into the half scoreless but Joao Moutinho scored just seven minutes into the second half when his long shot found its way past Diego Costa.

Uniao de Leiria have named Vitor Pontes their new head coach for the remainder of the season. Pontes takes over for the departing Pedro Caixinha. Pontes is on his third stint as coach of Leiria and has also coached Guimaraes and Portimonense but has not held a head coaching position since the 2009 season.

Andre Villas-Boas' arrival at Chelsea obviously set a new start for the Blues and although things is still in process, David Luiz is confident that the tactician will be successful in the premier league.

Luiz himself is very excited with the former FC Porto's coach arrival since Villas-Boas speaks the same language as the Brazilian international defender, which is considered as a plus point for the ex-Benfica player.

FC Porto returned to the top of the Portuguese League with a thud as they defeated U. Leiria 5-2 on the road in a game from Week 3 that was pushed forward due to the Dragons, UEFA Super Cup game against Barcelona. Porto scored the only goals of the first half when James Rodriguez and Kleber gave the visitors a 2-0 lead going into the half.

Week 3 commenced on Saturday this week with Gil Vicente opening the week for the third straight time but unlike the previous two weeks the club earned a 2-0 victory, their first since being promoted and ending Academica's two win start. Sunday saw Maritimo hand a struggling Sporting a 3-2 loss at Estadio Avalade and keeping the Lisbon side winless on the season.

With the Super Cup between Barcelona and FC Porto set to kick off tomorrow, Mizuno has upped its presence by stating that Porto striker Hulk will be wearing a pair of personalized Gold Morelia's. The boots are designed to commemorate the fantastic season Hulk had last season top goalscorer in Liga Sagres with 23 goals and a leader in Porto's impressive treble the Portuguese League, the League Cup and the Europa League Cup.

Week 2 opened with last seasons defending Champions FC Porto continue their unbeaten run in the Portuguese League with a 3-1 drubbing of Gil Vicente. Benfica then earned their first victory of the season defeating newly promoted Feirense by the same 3-1 score. Sporting was not so lucky playing to their second consecutive draw to start the season against Beira Mar.

FC Porto kicked off the start of Week 2 in Portugal with a 3-1 victory over newly promoted Gil Vicente as they start the season with their second straight victory and have not suffered a loss in the Portuguese league since February 28, 2010. Gil Vicente opened the scoring when they were awarded a penalty kick just three minutes into the encounter and Joao Vilela barely got the ball by

We are adding a new feature to our site for the upcoming 2011/12 season and recapping the Portuguese League after their rounds of games are done for the week. We hope you enjoy this added feature. Week 1 opened with more of a whimper then a roar as three out of the eight games played ended in a scoreless draw while only three clubs where able to manage a victory opening weekend.

Benfica open their 2011/12 campaign in disappointing fashion as last seasons runners-up draw with recently promoted Gil Vicente on the road and blowing a two goal lead in the process. Benfica opened the scoring just seven minutes into the game when newly acquired Nolito took a low shot past the keeper.

The team is in Portugal tonight to play our last pre-season warm-up against Benfica. Kick-off is 7:45 UK time, 2:45pm Eastern, 11:45am Pacific. The liveblog will start an hour before the game. Come on by and give us your thoughts. Liveblog is at the bottom.
Benfica had a strong, strong team two seasons ago, winning the Portuguese league, but that squad has since been partially dismantled, some in high-profile moves to big European teams:

Fábio Coentrão and Ángel Di María went to Real Madrid, Ramires and David Luiz joined Chelsea, and Nuno Gomes (Euro 2004, anyone?

According to reports in French daily newspaper, Le Parisien, Liverpool has agreed a fee with Lyon for left back Aly Cissokho.
The paper reports that the 23 year old French international, who saw a move to AC Milan fall through in 2009 over dental issues, will cost the big spending Anfield club 8.

Manchester United winger Nani has welcomed fellow countryman Andre Villas-Boas to the Premier League, hailing his decision to take the reins at Chelsea. The young Portuguese manager enjoyed success at the helm of Porto last season, and has Chelsea fans excited at the prospect of regaining the Premier League trophy.

The exhibition season is upon us once again as Portuguese clubs get set to start their friendlies after a summer break, upcoming games. July 6/11 FC Porto vs Tourizense July 6/11 Guimaraes vs Brasov (Rom) July 8/11 Seia vs P. Ferreira July 9/11 Beira Mar vs Brasov (Rom) July 9/11 Trofense vs Rio Ave July 9/11 Freamunde vs Braga July 9/11 Benfica vs Nice (Fra) July 9/11 Guimaraes vs Penafiel

We're right in the middle of the summer transfer season. Lots of rumors swirling about, and scouts driven to distraction by the demands of coaches, agents, and executives to provide quick and reliable information about a player's performance and worth.
In a global market for players, many of the potential transfers involve the proposal to move a player from one league to another.

Reports broke last night that Barcelona are interested in David Luiz and according to The Sun this morning, a bid of around £27.5m will be made with Chelsea.
For me the best thing Chelsea can do is tell Barcelona to bugger off as Luiz is part of Chelsea's future and we do not need to sell, especially now that AVB will be our new manager and will be fully aware of Luiz from his days coaching in the Portuguese league.

Andre Villas-Boas to bring youthful exuberance and flair to Chelsea - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Andre Villas-Boas will become the seventh Chelsea manager in the same number of years as owner Roman Abramovich activated his staggeringly high release clause totalling £13.3 million from FC Porto.

The PSNL fans have spoken and have made their choice for the Portuguese League Player of the Year selecting Porto striker Falcao with 38% of the vote. Falcao was a big part of the undefeated Porto squad to win the league this season. Falcao finished tied for second in scoring during the Portuguese League season behind only his teammate Hulk by 7 goals.

The fans of P.S.N.L have spoken and have given Portuguese National Team captain and Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo the Portuguese Player of the Year for the 2010/11 season after another remarkable campaign in which Ronaldo broke the La Liga record for goals in a season and finished the season with 53 goals in all competitions.