Benfica thump Maritimo for win ninth win in a row

Primeira Liga leaders Benfica thumped Maritimo 4-0 away on Sunday to chalk up their ninth league win in a row, and their seventh successive clean sheet.

Brazilian goalkeeper Julio Cesar, who has been in goal for the entire run, has not been beaten since the first minute of the 2-1 win over Nacional on Nov. 9, a total of 719 minutes' playing time.

Not even an early injury to Argentine midfielder Nicolas Gaitan could stop the titleholders, who reached the halfway mark with 46 points from 17 games and a six-point advantage over bitter rivals Porto.

Gaitan went off clutching his thigh in the 15th minute and was replaced by Ola John, who set up the first goal for Eduardo Salvio two minutes later.

Benfica finished off the Madeirans when John, Salvio and Lima scored in a 10-minute spell early in the second half, although they had Anderson Talisca sent off for a second bookable offence in the 89th minute.

The closest Benfica came to conceding was when Julio Cesar tipped Danilo's shot onto the bar when the score was 3-0.

"The numbers reflect exactly what happened in the game. 4-0 leaves no doubts for anyone," Benfica coach Jorge Jesus told reporters.

"We're getting better game by game," he added. "The new players have been adapting well. There have been games where we've had only two players from the title-winning team last season."

Porto won 3-1 at Penafiel on Saturday while Sporting Lisbon (36 points) are third after a Nani penalty set them on the way to a 4-2 win over Rio Ave.

Fredy Montero, Joao Mario and Junya Tanaka also scored for the Lions but Rio Ave made a game of it as Yonathan del Valle and Ahmed Hassan replied.