Mourinho's Benfica pull off an incredible feat in Portugal 😳 | OneFootball

Can you imagine your team playing a 34-round tournament, winning 23 times, losing no matches, and still not even securing a place in the main international competition the following season?

That is exactly what happened to José Mourinho’s Benfica in the current edition of the Portuguese Championship.

The number of draws ended up ruining their title chances and then their fight for second place.

The Eagles ultimately finished third. And they will have to settle for the Europa League in 2026/2027.

Only the top two teams in Liga Portugal secure a place in the following season’s UCL.

Benfica still had a chance to take second place from Sporting this Saturday (16), but they needed their Lisbon rivals to slip up and had to do their own job.

The away win over Estoril came (3-1), taking the team to 80 points.

But Sporting also won (3-0 over Gil Vicente) and reached 82.

The two draws in the previous rounds — combined with two Sporting wins — contributed to the final collapse.

Porto, meanwhile, who had already been crowned champions at the end of Matchday 32, finally lifted the trophy early after beating Santa Clara and reaching 88 points.

And Braga (59) took the Conference League spot. 

Famalicão (5th) are now the ones waiting to see what happens, as they will secure a place in the Conference League qualifying rounds if Sporting beat Torrense in the Portuguese Cup final. 

Will Al-Hilal follow the same path?

One of Saudi Arabia’s giants, Al-Hilal boasts 47 matches and a grand total of zero defeats this season.

Their last loss? A 2-1 defeat to Fluminense in the Club World Cup quarter-finals.

📸 PAUL ELLIS - AFP or licensors

Benzema’s current team was eliminated from the Asian Champions League without losing — they went out on penalties to Al-Sadd in a one-off round-of-16 match.

They won the Saudi King’s Cup and are right on Al-Nassr’s heels in the race for the Saudi Pro League.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s team lead with 83 points and only depend on themselves to become champions.

Al-Hilal, meanwhile, have 81. They need to beat Al-Fayha away and hope Al-Nassr stumble at home against Fábio Carille’s Damac — who are fighting relegation.

A possible tie on points (84 each) would hand the title to Simone Inzaghi’s side, who hold the advantage in the head-to-head record, the first tiebreaker.

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

📸 PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA - AFP or licensors