Diogo Costa sets his sights on Helton and Ovchinnikov’s record | OneFootball

After four consecutive matches where he had to retrieve the ball from the net (Arouca, Sporting, Benfica, and Stuttgart), Diogo Costa managed to keep a clean sheet again in the 3-0 victory over Moreirense last Sunday. With this result, the FC Porto goalkeeper extended his record for matches without conceding a goal in a league season – 18 in 26 rounds – and totaled 21 clean sheets this season across all competitions. This marks another career high for the captain of the blues and whites, after finishing the previous season with 20 matches without conceding, a record he had already achieved in 2022/23.

The difference this season is that the number 99 still has time to increase his tally. Besides the eight rounds remaining in the championship, the Dragons will have at least one more game in the Europa League and another in the Portuguese Cup. In the continental competition, Francesco Farioli's team is well-positioned to advance to the quarter-finals, following a 2-1 victory in Germany over Stuttgart, the very next opponent.

This context allows Diogo Costa to aspire to another record: the most clean sheets in a single season in the 21st century. The benchmark is set at 25 matches, a figure reached by two foreign goalkeepers – Brazilian Helton in 2012/13, during a season of great defensive solidity under Vítor Pereira, and Russian Ovchinnikov in 2000/01, when Fernando Santos was coaching. To match or surpass this record, Costa will also have to surpass names like Marchesín (22 clean sheets in 2020/21), Fabiano Freitas (24 in 2014/15), and Iker Casillas (24 in 2016/17), but given the defensive cohesion of the Dragons and the form of the Portuguese international, it seems only a matter of time.

For now, the captain's priority is to secure another clean sheet in tomorrow's match. Preventing Stuttgart from scoring at the Dragão would immediately ensure FC Porto's presence in the next round. On the other hand, it has been in the Europa League where Farioli's team has shown greater vulnerability: eight goals conceded in nine games.

In the overall tally of goals conceded by FC Porto in 2025/26 (not just with Diogo Costa in goal), the total stands at 23, a remarkable number, especially considering the Dragons have already played 41 matches this season. For comparison, they finished the 2007/08 season with 24 goals conceded.

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