FC Porto host Benfica with 103 wins and a 10-win overall edge | OneFootball

After the end of the 2022/23 season, FC Porto had 12 more wins than Benfica in the overall head-to-head record. However, the ‘eagles’ came out on top in 2023/24, with two wins to one, and stood out again in 2024/25 by winning twice, both times by 4-1.

That advantage was cut to nine wins, but the ‘dragons’ regained ground last season and increased the gap to 10 wins again by beating Benfica 1-0 at the Dragão in the quarter-finals of the Portuguese Cup. In that competition, FC Porto would later be eliminated by Sporting in the semi-finals.

Porto’s 103rd win came on 14 January, also at the Dragão, thanks to a goal by Jan Bednarek. The Polish centre-back scored in the 15th minute and set the record at 103 FC Porto wins against Benfica’s 93.

Earlier, on 5 October 2025, the two teams had drawn 0-0 at Porto’s stadium in a match from the eighth round of the league. José Mourinho’s defensive approach ‘neutralised’ FC Porto in what would end up being the only match in the first half of the season in which the team coached by Italian manager Francesco Farioli dropped points.

In the second half of the league campaign, the clash at the Luz initially smiled on the ‘dragons’, who opened up a 2-0 lead. Froholdt opened the scoring in the 10th minute and Pietuszewski doubled the advantage in the 40th, but FC Porto failed to ‘kill off’ the match and ended up allowing the ‘eagles’ to fight back.

Schjelderup pulled one back in the 69th minute and Luxembourg international Leandro Barreiro made it 2-2 in the 88th. The draw allowed Benfica to extend their unbeaten run in the league, which now stretches beyond 50 matches.

Barreiro’s goal was the 64th draw in the history of the clássico and also Benfica’s 400th goal against FC Porto. Porto have scored 377.

Taking into account the 260 matches played since 1931 in the Primeira Liga, Portuguese Cup, League Cup, Super Cup and Campeonato de Portugal, FC Porto still hold a 10-win advantage. In the third decade of the 21st century, which began in 2020/21, the ‘dragons’ also lead, with seven wins to Benfica’s five.

FC Porto had already been the dominant team in the second decade of the 21st century, a period in which they recorded 15 wins to seven. It was then that they took the lead in the overall head-to-head. Since 1980/81, Porto have won 24 more times than Benfica, with a record of 64-40, whereas the Lisbon side had ended the 1970s with a 14-win advantage, at 53-39.

The ‘eagles’ have not led the balance of a decade since the 1970s, when they recorded five more wins, with a total of 11 to six in 23 matches. Before that, they had also come out on top in the 1940s, by 14-6 in 22 matches, and in the 1960s, by 12-7 in 28.

In the league, FC Porto’s advantage is even more pronounced: 72 wins to 61, in a fixture that has also produced 51 draws. Even so, Benfica still lead in goals scored, with 283 to 271.

The first meeting between the two clubs took place more than 94 years ago, on 28 June 1931, at Campo do Arnado, where Benfica won 3-0. The top scorer in the clássico remains Benfica’s Eusébio, known as the ‘king’, with 25 goals.

The 261st clash between FC Porto and Benfica is scheduled for Sunday at the Dragão Stadium in Porto. The match, part of the seventh round of the 2026/27 Primeira Liga season, kicks off at 20:30 and will be refereed by Miguel Nogueira of the Lisbon Football Association.

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