Farioli's FC Porto one game from matching Conceição's defensive mark | OneFootball

FC Porto began the season by winning the Super Cup against Torreense in Coimbra (1-0) and, from that point on, laid the groundwork for a very well-prepared start to the campaign, with a 100 percent winning record and also a flawless defensive showing. Then, in the first three league matchdays, they always won 2-0: first at home to Alverca, then in Vila do Conde against Rio Ave and, this Sunday, against Arouca, again at home.

With this record, the blue-and-whites have managed, for the fourth time in their history, not to concede a single goal in the first four official matches of a season. They have matched what they had already achieved three times before, all in this century, in the 2017/18, 2014/15 and 2010/11 seasons.

In addition to already having won a trophy at the start of this season, this league start has already given the current national champions, coached by Francesco Farioli, sole leadership at the top. In 2025/26, they had also started the league without conceding in the first three matchdays: a 3-0 win against Vitória (home), a 2-0 win over Gil Vicente (away) and a 4-0 win over Casa Pia (at home). The first goal conceded in 2025/26 came in the fourth game of the season, in a 2-1 win over Sporting at Alvalade… and it was even an own goal, by Nehuén Pérez.

One game away from the 2015 and 2018 marks

Farioli’s FC Porto are one game away from matching the teams of Sérgio Conceição in 2017/18 and Julen Lopetegui in 2014/15, seasons in which the Dragons did not concede a single goal in their first five official matches.

In 2017/18, FC Porto, in their first season with Conceição at the helm, began the campaign with five league wins, all without conceding: 4-0 against Estoril (home), 1-0 at Tondela, 3-0 at home to Moreirense, 1-0 at Braga and 3-0 at home to GD Chaves. They only conceded in the sixth official match, and three times at that, in a 3-1 home defeat to Besiktas in the opening round of the Champions League group stage.

In 2014/15, with Lopetegui in charge, the blue-and-whites also did not concede in their first five official matches. In the league, they beat Marítimo 2-0 (home), won 1-0 at Paços de Ferreira and beat Moreirense 3-0 at home. In between, they won both legs of the play-off for qualification to the Champions League group stage against Lille: 1-0 away and 2-0 at home. They only conceded in the sixth match, in a 1-1 draw at Guimarães against Vitória, in the league.

The team coached by Farioli can therefore match the defensive record from the start of those two seasons if they do not concede away to Académico de Viseu, and can even set a new record if, in addition to that match, they also keep a clean sheet at home to Moreirense.

Two of those seasons ended with the title, under Conceição… and Villas-Boas

The current national champions also find encouraging historical signs in two of the previous three seasons in which they did not concede in their first four official matches.

In 2017/18, Sérgio Conceição’s FC Porto were crowned national champions, in the season whose triumph also had the effect of preventing Benfica’s “five-peat.”

In 2010/11, the season in which their coach was the current president, André Villas-Boas, FC Porto were not only national champions, but also won the Portuguese Cup, the Super Cup and the Europa League, missing out only on the League Cup. That season, they began by beating Benfica 2-0 in the Super Cup in Aveiro, followed by wins without conceding away to Naval in the league (1-0), away in Belgium against Genk (3-0, in the first leg of the Europa League play-off) and a 3-0 home win over Beira-Mar in the league. They would concede their first goals in the fifth official match of the season, in a 4-2 win over Genk in the second leg of the Europa League play-off.

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