Only four times have FC Porto faced Benfica and Sporting away back-to-back | OneFootball

After being defeated 1-0 at Alvalade in the first leg of the Portuguese Cup semi-finals, FC Porto returns to Lisbon to face the other opponent of the Segunda Circular: Benfica. The match between the eagles and the dragons is scheduled for 18:00 next Sunday, March 8th, at Estádio da Luz.

This is an apparently unusual scenario: the blue and white team will play consecutively at the home grounds of the lions and the reds. The portal zerozero took this circumstance as a starting point for an investigation: has this happened regularly throughout history or is it a rarity?

Using our extensive and detailed database, we went through FC Porto's history to determine how many seasons have recorded this sequence of visits. Any guesses, dear reader?

Since records began, FC Porto has faced Benfica and Sporting in two consecutive away games on only four(!) occasions. A rare phenomenon, considering the competitions in which these three clubs meet.

If we narrow the search to the same pattern expected for 2025/26 – first visiting Sporting's ground and then traveling to Luz in the following round – this has only occurred once in history, and it was not favorable for Porto either…

Stars aligned? The result against Sporting was the same…

Although there are few examples, we only need to go back to 2017/18 to find consecutive rounds in Lisbon. In that season, the team led by Sérgio Conceição defeated Benfica at Luz – with the famous Herrera goal – and in the following match, lost at Alvalade in the Portuguese Cup semi-finals.

Going even further back, to the 1980s, we find the only case where the dragons played first at the lions' home and then at the reds'. In the 1981/82 season, this sequence repeats the current pattern: a 1-0 defeat at Alvalade and another defeat, 3-1, at Luz.

Season Game 1 Game 2 2017/18 Benfica 0-1 FC Porto Sporting 1-0 (5-4 p.s) FC Porto 1981/82 Sporting 1-0 FC Porto Benfica 3-1 FC Porto 1938/39 Benfica 4-1 FC Porto Sporting 4-4 FC Porto 1932/33 Benfica 4-2 FC Porto Sporting 1-1 FC Porto

At Luz in that 80s season, Porto was defeated again, this time 3-1. Now, Farioli's team will seek to reverse this sequence to prevent the historical curiosity from becoming a bad omen.

Before that, the phenomenon had already occurred twice in the 1930s. In 1938/39, Porto was defeated 4-1 at Luz and drew at Alvalade; six years earlier, in 1932/33, they lost 4-2 against Benfica and drew with Sporting. In total, FC Porto achieved only one victory in eight matches – a statistic that might concern the Italian coach.

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