Porto wins Portuguese title

Porto captain Bruno Alves clinched the Portuguese league title for his team on Sunday, scoring the only goal in a 1-0 win over Nacional.

Alves scored in front of a capacity 50,000 crowd at the Stadium of the Dragon to bring his team its fourth straight title and its sixth in seven years. Porto has been champion of the Portuguese league 24 times.

Porto, which has also reached the Portuguese Cup final, lies six points ahead of Sporting with two games remaining. However, Porto has the better head-to-head results after a draw and a win. Coach Jesualdo Ferreira is the first Portuguese coach to capture three consecutive league titles.

"The team has been fantastic. The players worked very hard for some months when they were put under criticism. Everybody doubted their worth but in the end they all ended up recognising that this FC Porto is the best in recent years," Ferreira said.

Porto, which had beaten Nacional in their past seven league meetings, scored just after the break when Lisandro Lopez nodded back a corner and Alves headed home. After 28 games, Porto has 66 points, while Sporting has 60. Benfica is third on 53, four more than Nacional.