This Saturday, FC Porto won the 83rd football trophy in its history, going on to share the national record with Benfica, by winning its first League Cup, in Leiria, beating two-time champion Sporting, 2-0.
At the Dr. Magalhães Pessoa Municipal Stadium, in Leiria, goals by Canadian Stephen Eustáquio (minute 10) and Spanish Iván Marcano (86) sealed the final of the 16th edition of the youngest competition in Portuguese professional football, which never had the ‘blue and white’ won, after having already lost in 2009/10, 2012/13, 2018/19 and 2019/20.
FC Porto completed its history in internal competitions and was for the first time in possession of the four main national trophies simultaneously, equaling the 83 conquests of Benfica, which it celebrated for the last time at the beginning of 2019/20, when it thrashed Sporting ( 5-0) to triumph for the eighth time in the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira, at the Estádio Algarve.
In this ‘blind’ count, which puts an international competition and a domestic cup at the same level, the fight is between two, since the ‘lions’, who had even added the revalidation of the League Cup to the Super Cup in In 2021/22, they are a distant third with 54 hits.
At the end of last season, FC Porto was placed two trophies behind Benfica, by sealing the 30th title of the I Liga, with a record of 91 points, and the 18th Portuguese Cup, after triumphing in the final against Tondela, 3-1 in Jamor, after having eliminated the two Lisbon rivals.
Concluded in May 2022, the ninth ‘double’ would lead to the seventh ‘treble’ two months later, when the team led by Sérgio Conceição once again beat ‘Beirãos’, recently relegated to the II Liga, 3-0, in Aveiro, sealing the 23rd Super Cup.
In national competitions, FC Porto still has four wins in the extinct Portuguese Championship, a competition that preceded the Taça de Portugal, played between 1921/22 and 1937/38, to end today with a ‘curse’ in the Cup of League that persisted since 2007/08.
The ‘blue and white’ are the most successful Portuguese club in international football, with seven titles – European Cup (1986/87), Champions League (2003/04), UEFA Cup (2002/03), Europa League (2010 / 11), Intercontinental Cup (1987 and 2004) and European Super Cup (1987/88) -, against two of the ‘incarnated’ and one of the ‘lions’.
FC Porto and Benfica are now tied for the leadership of the global trophies, which the ‘dragões’ had previously commanded, coming three four ahead of the ‘águias’ (74-69) after the conquest of the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira, in 2013.
The Club de la Luz would retake the lead (81-74) with a 12-0 run in the following four years, which resulted in the achievement of an unprecedented ‘fourth championship’, flanked by three other editions of the Super Cup, three of them the League Cup and two of the Portuguese Cup.
FC Porto celebrated again in 2017/18, avoiding the debut of Sérgio Conceição -now he has become the club’s most regular coach-, the ‘five’ against Benfica, who reacted with the ‘reconquest’ of 2018/ 19, at a time when the ‘dragons’ were only for the Super Cup.
That decision usually disputed in summer between the national champion and the winner of the Portuguese Cup was Benfica’s last conquest, in 2019/20, while FC Porto would repeat the ‘double’ of that season in 2021/22, having, in half, combined with two more successes in the ‘Queen’ competition, two in the Super Cup and one in the League Cup.
Source: TSF
