A whistle-stop tour of the weekend's football action from around the globe, with Sporting grabbing a point against thier bitter rivals Benfica in the Portuguese top flight.

PORTUGAL

Benfica missed a chance to cut the gap on leaders Porto when they drew 1-1 with Sporting in the Lisbon derby on Sunday.

Porto, who drew 0-0 at Boavista on Saturday, stayed comfortably on top with 51 points from 21 matches followed by Benfica on 39 and Vitoria Guimaraes, who drew 0-0 at Braga, on 35.

Six of the weekend's fixtures ended in draws with only Vitoria Setubal beating Uniao Leiria 2-0 on Saturday.

In the big game, Montenegrin midfielder Simon Vukcevic put Sporting in front with a header from a deep cross by Brazilian winger Tiui after 11 minutes.

Benfica equalised six minutes from the break when Paraguayan striker Oscar Cardozo headed home a corner from the left by captain Rui Costa.

Benfica ended the match with 10 men after defender Nelson was sent off in the 76th minute for chopping down Sporting's Brazilian winger Celsinho.

HOLLAND

Leaders PSV Eindhoven suffered a 3-1 defeat at Utrecht on Sunday, allowing second-placed Ajax, 4-0 winners against Excelsior Rotterdam, to close the gap to six points in the Eredivisie.

With seven matches remaining PSV are top with 59 points, followed by Ajax on 53. The rivals will meet each other next week in Eindhoven. NAC Breda are third with 50 points following a 3-0 home win over Sparta Rotterdam on Saturday.

Feyenoord remain fourth with 48 points after suffering their second home defeat this season, losing 3-1 against NEC Nijmegen.

Strugglers Heracles Almelo came from a goal behind to defeat Groningen 2-1, with Everton and Srdan Lakic on target.

Groningen are fifth with 47 points, while Almelo climbed to 13th with 27.

BULGARIA

Two Beroe Stara Zagora fans were handed two-year stadium bans for hooliganism following their team's 2-2 home draw with Slavia Sofia.

Leaders CSKA Sofia were held to a 0-0 draw at Litex Lovech, allowing champions Levski Sofia to narrow the gap to eight points with a 1-0 home defeat of Vihren.

SERBIA

Champions Red Star came from behind to beat leaders Partizan 4-1 in the 132nd Belgrade derby, the first to be played behind closed doors. They lead by three points at the restart after a two-month winter break.

Ecuador midfielder Segundo Castillo scored two goals and Dejan Milovanovic and Nenad Milijas added one each for Red Star, who completed a three-match crowd ban over a fan riot during a home game in December.

CROATIA

Dinamo Zagreb stayed firmly on course for their third successive league title with a 4-2 win at Rijeka in an entertaining top of the table clash.

Late goals from midfielders Mihael Mikic and Ognjen Vukojevic put Dinamo 11 points clear of Rijeka after the home side had fought back from a 2-0 deficit.

POLAND

Leaders Wisla Krakow extended their unbeaten run to 16 wins in 19 matches after a Pawel Brozek goal gave them a 1-0 home victory over struggling Widzew Lodz.

The result left Wisla 11 points ahead of closest rivals Legia Warsaw, who kept alive their slim title hopes with a 2-1 home defeat of LKS Lodz thanks to a Takesure Chinyama brace.

UKRAINE

Shakhtar Donetsk went top with a 5-0 home rout of basement team Zakarpattya Uzhgorod after second-placed Dnipro suffered a 4-0 home defeat to third-placed champions Dynamo Kiev.

Shakhtar, who are bidding for their third league title in four years, have 44 points from 18 matches, followed by Dnipro on 43 and Dynamo on 42 from 19 games.

ROMANIA

Champions Steaua Bucharest revived their title hopes after a 3-1 home win over leaders CFR Cluj lifted them into third position and cut their deficit against the season's surprise package to eight points.

Second-placed Rapid Bucharest also closed in, a 1-0 win at Otelul Galati leaving them five points off the pace.

SLOVAKIA

Champions and front-runners MSK Zilina were held to a 0-0 draw at second bottom Senec but stayed a point ahead of Artmedia Bratislava, who salvaged a 2-2 draw at Banska Bystrica through a Tomas Oravec brace.

HUNGARY

Leaders MTK Budapest needed a late Joszef Kanta goal to earn a 1-1 home draw with lowly PAKS that sent them five points clear of champions Debrecen, who lost 3-1 at fifth placed Gyor.

ARGENTINA

Striker Martin Palermo scored a record-equalling goal for Boca Juniors to give them a 1-0 win at Gimnasia-La Plata and take them top of the Argentine Clausura championship on Sunday.

Palermo, 34, converted a controversial penalty in the 42nd minute to equal the club record of 180 goals set by Francisco Varallo in the 1930s.

Boca, who have 10 points, went top on goal difference from Velez Sarsfield, who were held to a goalless draw by Gimnasia-Jujuy on Saturday.

River Plate's attempt to notch a third win in eight days was frustrated when torrential rain forced their game against San Martin to be suspended.

Champions Lanus went down to a 3-2 defeat at Olimpo, despite twice leading through goals by Diego Gonzalez.

Jose Ulloa and Gustavo Pinto hauled Olimpo back before Ulloa's second goal in the 72nd minute gave the hosts the points.

BRAZIL

Chilean Jorge Valdivia scored the only goal to give Palmeiras a 1-0 win over arch-rivals Corinthians in their derby on Sunday.

Sao Paulo striker Adriano, fined 40 percent of a month's wages for leaving a training session early on Friday, made a negligible contribution in his side's 2-1 win at Mirassol.

Sao Paulo are fourth in the competition, the largest of the state tournaments which kick off the Brazilian season, with 23 points from 12 games. The top four teams in the 20-team table qualify for the semi-finals. Corinthians are sixth and Palmeiras seventh.

Santos, under former Brazil coach Emerson Leao, dropped to 13th after losing 1-0 to Sertaozinho.

In Rio de Janeiro, former Brazil striker Edmundo, known as the Animal at the height of his volatile career, converted an early penalty to set Vasco da Gama on their way to a 4-0 win over Boavista.

Reuters