Soccer-Porto extend lead, Benfica held at home

LISBON, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Porto stretched their lead at the top of the Portuguese Premier League to 10 points when they crushed bottom-of-the table Uniao Leiria 4-0 on Saturday.

Benfica's hopes of mounting a title challenge suffered a knock when they were held 0-0 at home by Nacional Madeira.

Porto top the standings with 44 points from 18 matches followed by Benfica on 34. Third placed Sporting on 30 have a chance to cut the gap when they travel to Belenenses on Sunday

Defender Jose Bosingwa put the reigning champions in front after 17 minutes with a deflected shot from outside the area.

Argentine forward Ernesto Farias doubled the advantage with a glancing header from a perfect cross from the left by Ricardo Quaresma after 24 minutes.

On the stroke of halftime, his compatriot Lisandro Lopez, who leads the scoring table with 14 goals, grabbed the third when he chipped over Leiria goalkeeper Fernando after a neat 1-2 with his compatriot Lucho Gonzalez.

Farias wrapped it up with the fourth goal with a header from another cross by Quaresma on 61 minutes. (Reporting by Carlos Pontes, editing by Martin Petty)