Lisbon, Portugal, Dec 19: Sporting Lisbon lost ground to Benfica and Porto at the top of the Portuguese league after needing a late equalizer from Elias to rescue a 1-1 draw at Academica on Sunday.
The result left Sporting in third with 27 points from 13 matches, six behind Benfica and Porto.
Ederzito opened the scoring for Academica in the 28th minute, but Elias leveled the scores in the 80th to snatch a point.
Elias was sent off in the 89th minute to damage Sporting's hopes of a late winner.
Benfica beat Rio Ave 5-1 on Friday, while Porto had a 2-0 home win against Maritimo on Saturday. The leaders have been joint top for nine rounds.
Also Sunday, Feirense had a 2-1 win against Leiria, Nacional drew 1-1 with Vitoria Setubal and Beira-Mar won 3-0 at Pacos Ferreira.
