Defensive wall really was FC Porto’s best attack | OneFootball

FC Porto’s path to winning the title was built on a defensive solidity so strong that Farioli’s side was even labeled pragmatic. One of football’s old maxims says that the best attack is defense, and Porto took that literally: a team that does not concede is always closer to picking up three points, and FC Porto went unbeaten in 21 of the 34 league rounds, a record unmatched among Europe’s top leagues.

The closest to those numbers are two-time European champion PSG and Olympiacos, both with 18 clean sheets, although the Greeks did not even win their domestic title. The team from Piraeus, it should be noted, was the only one to concede fewer goals than Porto: 17, although they trail slightly in average terms, having played only 32 matches, two fewer than the Portuguese champions.

In the 21 league matches in which FC Porto kept a clean sheet, Diogo Costa was always in goal and only in two did he not complete the full 90 minutes (against Aves SAD and Santa Clara, both at the Dragão). This means he comfortably surpassed his previous record, which was 16 league matches without conceding a goal.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.