FC Porto back on top alone after more than three years 🐉 | OneFootball

For the first time since the end of the 2021/22 season, when Sérgio Conceição led the club to the title, FC Porto holds the lead alone and without any asterisk at the end of the 5th round of the Betclic League. Even in moments when the dragons appeared tied at the top in the last three years, they had never regained the condition of 1st place unreservedly as now.

At the end of the previous round, after the victory in Alvalade (2-1) against Sporting, the team of Francesco Farioli appeared alone in command, but with a caveat: the Rio Ave-Benfica match, referring to the 1st round, had been postponed to protect the reds at the time they were contesting the qualification for the group stage of the Champions.

With Benfica's draw against Santa Clara (1-1), on Friday, and Porto's victory over Nacional (1-0), the day before yesterday, this caveat no longer exists. It also became clear that, in the next round, if the blues and whites win in Vila do Conde they will remain isolated leaders regardless of the calendar fit that, four days later, will put Benfica on a trip to Rio Ave.

Throughout this period, FC Porto shared the top on several occasions, but the most memorable memory for the fans is probably the 17th round of 2024/25: then, with the same 40 points as Sporting, the team led by Vítor Bruno did not take advantage of the lions' draw in Guimarães (4-4) nor Benfica's defeat with Sp. Braga (1-2) and ended up falling to 2nd place after losing in Choupana with Nacional (0-2).

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