Sporting can celebrate the title at home to an opponent for the first time

If Benfica lose to Sporting Braga on Saturday, Sporting will have an unprecedented opportunity to celebrate the title in a rival stronghold on Sunday if they beat Porto in the 31st round of Football League I.

At the Estadio José Alvalade, the Lions have already attended Benfica’s celebrations in 1975, and two decades later Porto’s in 1995 and 1999, and now they have the chance to take revenge on one of their biggest rivals in history. Portuguese football, despite the fact that the Blue and Whites have already dropped out of the race for the title this season.

The home troubles began in the 1974/75 season, when Benfica arrived in Alvalade on the penultimate matchday to win the title race against Porto, which they achieved by forcing a 1-1 tie: Fragito scored on in the 30th minute, and Diamantino answered for the Reds in the 52nd.

Meanwhile, two decades passed and the hegemony of the “dragons” in the period after April 25 led to two celebrations in Alvalade, in the seasons when their “penta”, the only one to date in Portugal, began and ended, between 1994 and 1999.

Firstly, in the 31st round under the leadership of English coach Bobby Robson, who was fired from Alvalade in the middle of last season, Domingos converted a penalty in the 58th minute in a 1-0 victory right on his opponent’s goal. The stadium won the championship straight away, which the Dragons finished with a seven-point lead, last season in which each win was worth two points.

In 1999, Porto were already in the champion’s field as Boavista, with whom they were fighting for first place, drew and thus offered the title on the “couch”: Zahović equalized in the 85th minute after Pedro Barbosa’s first goal; at the age of 46, in the 33rd round of the competition, in which the “chess players” were in second place, eight points behind the “blue and white”, and Sporting were fourth, 16 points behind the champion.

At the turn of the millennium, Porto celebrated again at the home of their biggest rivals, Benfica, in 2011 and 2022, with the party ending in triumph at the Estádio da Luz on both occasions.

In the first, Andre Villas-Boas, now a candidate for the presidency of FC Porto in Saturday’s elections, coached Porto against Jorge Jesus’ Benfica, whom he beat 2-1, in a competition made famous by blackouts and turning on the irrigation system during the celebration of the formation of Invicta.

Colombian Guarin opened the scoring in the ninth minute, Argentine Saviola equalized in the 17th minute from the penalty spot, just as Brazilian Hulk gave the decisive command to the Dragons, champions by 21 points (84-63). ) over “embodied”.

More recently, in the 2021/22 season, the match on the 33rd and penultimate round was decided in stoppage time, 90+4 minutes, in a counter-attack completed by the unlikely hero, Nigerian defender Zaidu (1-0). Sergio Conceição’s Porto were crowned champions with 91 points, six more than second-placed Sporting, while Benfica completed the podium with 74 points.

Now with 12 more points, Sporting lead the table with 80, seven more than Benfica. If Sporting Braga beat the Eagles in Lusha, Ruben Amorim’s side will rely solely on themselves to begin celebrating their 20th scepter the next day, in the middle of the Dragao stadium, and will have to beat rivals Porto to do so.

Sporting Braga would even view the celebration favorably as a sign that they would have won in Luz and that the Lions would have beaten the Dragons, while Minho’s side are level with Porto. ​and both are fighting. for third place in the I League, both are already 18 points behind Sporting.

Alvalade’s team travels to Porto with peace of mind, comfortable progress and the motivation of eight straight wins over Porto, with the worst record of the Sergio Conceição era.