It is not yet that Portimonense can celebrate their permanence in the I Liga. The Algarvians went to Estádio do Restelo to lose 3-2 to Belenenses, in a game in which they even managed to be ahead twice, but they couldn't avoid the home team, who benefited from two penalties.
Portimonense took the lead after 14 minutes. Fabricio served Shoya Nakajima, who made his way towards goal and put the ball over goalkeeper Muriel.
The tie came shortly after, at 29 minutes, from a penalty. The referee signaled a foul by Hackman on Sasso, in the grid, and Maurides, called to convert the maximum punishment, made it 1-1.
Portimonense reacted and was looking to regain the advantage. And managed to make it 2-1 even before the break. In the 39th minute, Fabrício made the most of the foot, giving the best follow-up to a pass from Nakajima.
Portimonense still had an excellent opportunity to reach 3-1 before the break, but the result did not change until then. In the second half, Belenenses managed to tie the game again in the 57th minute, through Licá.
Portimonense reacted again and could even have reached 3rd, in a play in which Nakajima sent the ball to the bar. But it ended up being Belenenses who scored, in the 81st minute, again with a penalty, this time punishing Rúben Fernandes' foul on Nathan. Maurides was once again responsible for converting the penalty and did not fail.
The 3-2 with which the game was to end was made, despite the attempts by the Algarve to reach, at least, a draw that would guarantee, from now on, the permanence. Thus, Portimonense will have to wait to see how the teams behind them in the league table behave, to see if they celebrate maintenance in the I League this weekend.
It is certain that the chances of the Portimão team going down are very remote. Portimonense is currently in 12th position – it was overtaken by Belenenses, who guaranteed its maintenance today – and has six teams behind them, one of which has no chance of achieving it (Estoril) and four needing to win the two games that they are missing to at least get the same number of points.
The only chance for the Algarveans to go down is if there is a combination of teams tied for the penultimate place that leads to, in the league of matches played between them, Portimonense is the team that got the fewest points.
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