May 4, 1975, matchday 29 of the championship, Estádio José Alvalade. On that day, Benfica won the title of national champions for the first and only time in the home of eternal rivals Sporting, with a 1-1 draw. A scenario that the 48-year-old can repeat on Sunday, curiously enough also in the penultimate round of the I Liga.
Accounts are simple. Benfica and FC Porto reach round 33 separated by four points with six on the line. The eagles depend solely on themselves, that is, even if the dragons win the day before, if they win in Alvalade, Benfica will be crowned champions. A draw can even suffice, if Famalicão-FC Porto also ends with a draw. Or even a defeat if the Porto players do not score – in this case, the reds already enter Alvalade as champions.
In other words, the title could even go through next Sunday’s Lisbon derby (at 8.30pm, Sport TV1). A situation that occurred only once in the entire history of Portuguese football, in May 1975, on an afternoon marked by a rather unusual story about a championship cup, as reported by DN at the time.
“On the very day when the Portuguese Football Federation, through its president Jorge Fagundes, handed over to Sporting the trophy corresponding to last season’s national championship. [1973-74] in which the leonine players became national champions, the club from Alvalade and its thousands of supporters saw the trophy corresponding to the current competition snatched by its most direct rival, thanks to a draw [1-1]”wrote the journalist Guita Junior in the DN edition of May 5, 1975, in an article entitled: “Exciting and hard-fought performance of champions”.
On the game’s chronicle page, the text was illustrated with Benfica’s eleven in that game, then two more pictures: one of Brazil’s Wagner (Sporting) receiving the championship cup from the hands of the FPF leader, and another showing Yazalde showed the best scorer. trophy, both matching the previous championship (193-74).
Benfica’s winning team that year included names such as Bento, Toni, Humberto Coelho, Eurico Gomes, Shéu, Simões, Eusébio, Vítor Baptista, Nené, Artur Jorge, among others. The coach was the Yugoslavian Milorad Pavic.
to celebrate dinner
“At that time there was no media attention and today’s protocols. Cups were handed out in big games, when there were a lot of people in the stadium,” Diamantino Costa recalled to DN, who was the goalscorer that gave Benfica the title : “Sporting were 1-0 up, Fraguito’s goal. I scored in the second half, a cross into the penalty area and shot first.”
“Of course we celebrated, but it was not like today, there were no trips to the Marquês either. Also because we were often champions at the time, we were used to it. We all went out to dinner to celebrate”he added.
In the entire history of Portuguese football, Benfica won four championships against Sporting. In addition to the case already mentioned, in the 1974-75 season, the only time in Alvalade, he also celebrated at home against his eternal rival – in 1935-36, 1983-1984 and 1986-87.
If FC Porto loses in Famalicão on Saturday, Benfica will use Alvalade as the new champion. And, as coach Rúben Amorim has already announced, Luz’s club will not be entitled to a guard of honor: “It is clear that we will return the gesture made by Benfica two years ago, which is not to have a guard of honor.”
If Benfica are crowned champions this weekend, the handover of the trophy by Liga Portugal president Pedro Proença will only happen on the last day, in Luz, against Santa Clara. Contrary to what happened in the 1970s, current regulations specify that in these cases the Cup “shall be handed over in an official ceremony to the club crowned champions of the league in its stadium, regardless of the game in which it is played”. champion is crowned whether or not to take place in the final round of the competition”.
Source: DN
