Soccer-Benfica win seventh straight to keep up title chase

LISBON, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Titleholders Benfica thumped Moreirense 4-1 away on Sunday to notch their seventh successive league win and keep up their pursuit of Portuguese leaders Sporting on Sunday. Two goals from Jonas, a spectacular volley by Kostas Mitroglou and another goal from Nicolas Gaitan kept Benfica two points behind Sporting, who beat Academica Coimbra 3-2 on Saturday. Jonas headed Benfica ahead from Pizzi's cross in the 16th minute and Mitroglou fired home the second just before halftime, meeting Eliseu's low cross with a left-foot volley which flew into the roof of the net. Jonas again combined with Pizzi before rounding Moreirense goalkeeper Igor Stefanovic to add the third and the Brazilian forward laid the ball off for Gaitan to burst into the area and score the fourth. "The players were fantastic, sure of themselves and showed their quality," said Benfica coach Rui Vitoria. "They made the difficult things look easy." "It was important to show our firepower." (Writing by Brian Homewood in Berne; Editing by Peter Rutherford)