Benfica has a clear supremacy in the home games against Sporting for the 1st Portuguese Football League, but, conversely, they have only won three of the last eight games.
After six consecutive victories, all without goals conceded (one by 1-0 and five by 2-0), between 2008/09 and 2013/14, the ‘incarnated’ managed only three more since 2014/15, conceding three draws and two setbacks.
The ‘leonine’ formation won in 2015/16 and last season, in two games in which it was clearly superior and in which it even led 3-0.
Seven seasons ago, in a game marked by the return of Jorge Jesus to Luz as Sporting coach, after six seasons at the service of Benfica, the ‘leonina’ formation was ‘sweeping’ and resolved the match in the first half.
On October 25, 2015, on the eighth day, the Colombian Teo Gutiérrez, in the ninth minute, the Algerian Slimani, in the 21st minute, and the Costa Rican Bryan Ruiz, in the 36th minute, scored the goals of Alvalade’s eleven, who hadn’t won at Luz since 2005/06.
Jesús prevailed (3-0) in that match, but, back at Benfica, he fell 3-1 in 2021/22, in a match of the 13th round played on December 3, 2021.
Like six years before, Sporting, led by Rúben Amorim, reached 3-0, with goals from Spaniard Pablo Sarabia, after eight minutes, and from Portuguese internationals Paulinho, at 62, and Matheus Nunes, at 68.
At the end of stoppage time, in the 90+6 minute, Pizzi reduced and mitigated the hard defeat.
In addition to these two matches, Sporting managed to score three more times in the last eight years, sealing one-goal draws in 2014/15, 2017/18 and 2018/19, in the last two conceding goals towards the end.
Despite these five games without winning, Benfica continues to lead this cycle, adding three victories, by 2-1 in 2016/17 and 2019/20 and by 4-3 in 2020/21, in the last two meetings with Empty light, because of the covid-19 pandemic.
Benfica’s final triumph occurred on May 15, 2021, with goals from Seferovic (12 and 49 minutes), Pizzi (29) and Lucas Veríssimo (37), and ended, on the penultimate day, with the invincibility of the already champion Sporting, for which Pedro Gonçalves (twice) and Nuno Santos were billed.
With an audience in the stands, the ‘incarnated’ have not celebrated since the 2-1 win in 2016/17, sealed by the Argentine Salvio (24 minutes) and the Mexican Raúl Jiménez (47). The goal for the ‘lions’ was scored by the Dutchman Bas Dost (69).
In the total of Benfica’s home games for the championship, the ‘incarnated’ continue with 54.5% of victories, corresponding to 48, in 88 games, against 24 draws and 16 defeats, and a favorable balance of 61 goals ( 175 vs. 114).
Sporting evened the balance in the early days, with eight wins, compared to Benfica’s 10, and even achieved four victories in a space of five years, between 1949/50 and 1953/54, but, later, the ‘incarnated’ they took command.
In more than 60 years, the Luz team has only suffered eight more defeats, and from 1954/55 to 1993/94 they won 26 times, while Sporting only won twice, in 1965/66 (4-2 , with a poker from Lourenço ‘) and in 1985/86 (2-1), then ‘stealing’ the title from Benfica and ‘giving’ it to FC Porto.
Between 1994/95 and 2007/08, the ‘Leonese’ team lived its best period, with only three defeats in 13 games and four victories (2-1 in 1994/95 and in 2002/03 and 3-1 in 2003/04 and 2005/06). Afterwards, they only won again in 2014/15, 3-0.
In terms of goals, Luz’s team has won two victories with five goals difference, 7-2 in 1945/46, with a hat-trick from Mário Rui, and 5-0 in 1978/ 79, with ‘encore’ by Reinaldo and João Alves.
Benfica also achieved three wins for four goals: 5-1 in 1936/37, with a ‘double’ from Espírito Santo, 4-0 in 1958/59, a season in which António Mendes and José Águas shared the goals, and 5- 1 in 1970/71, largely due to a hat-trick from Artur Jorge.
For its part, Sporting’s best results are 4-1 in 1938/39 and 1947/48, and in the second game Peyroteo scored the four Leonine goals, and 3-0 in 2015/16.
Individually, the great figure is the ‘king’ Eusébio, who always scored between 1962/63 and 1967/68 and did not fail between 1970/71 and 1973/74, in a total of 16 goals, four of them in 1972/73 (4-1).
Benfica and Sporting face each other on Sunday, starting at 6:00 p.m., at the Estádio da Luz, in Lisbon, in a match for the 16th round of the 2022/23 edition of the 1st Portuguese football league.
Source: TSF
