Porto repeat 2004 twist, can be champions before facing Alverca | OneFootball

It is hard to find a sport more prone to coincidences than football. Looking at FC Porto’s path in the 2025/26 national title race, a curious comparison stands out. Going back to April 2004, we reach the end of a season dominated by José Mourinho’s Dragons, who, before lifting the Champions League, secured back-to-back league titles… on matchday 32.

Twenty-two years ago, heading into the third-from-last round – just like now – the blue-and-white team needed only a win to start celebrating in the Invicta. The opponent? Anyone who said Alverca was right. In the build-up to that match, Mourinho, now Benfica’s coach, assured that the team’s focus was “100%” on that game, even though the decisive clash with Coruña was only a few days away. Even so, fate had it that FC Porto took the field already relaxed and, in practice, as national champions.

On the eve of hosting Alverca, Sporting lost 1-0 in Leiria, with a goal by Alhanda, mathematically confirming the Dragons’ title. Around 200 kilometres further north, the celebrations took place at a hotel in Boavista, where the Porto squad was staying. The fans went to the venue and the players appeared at the windows, many shirtless and with champagne in hand. “I wasn’t expecting to celebrate today, but that’s how it is. I started the party during dinner, in a restaurant where there were many Porto supporters. (…) I felt I was going to be champion as soon as the league started. Others spent their time speaking badly and about systems, while we worked,” said Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa, then president of the blue-and-whites.

Mourinho, for his part, strongly praised the group and did not miss the chance to slip in a jab: “I must have been the only coach to become champion beside my wife and children, because in the game against Santa Clara, last year [2002/03], I was suspended. This year I’m champion in the hotel… Let’s see if one day I can be champion on the bench.”

The very next day, 25 April 2004, the Special One took advantage of the situation to rotate the team, already with the Champions League in mind. Bosingwa, then a young prospect, scored with a header from a Deco assist, the goal that decided the match (1-0), in Alverca’s last visit to the Dragão. There were several shots off the woodwork, Carlos Alberto was sent off and Derlei returned to competition after four months out. Porto celebrated at the stadium and the team marked the moment with a dinner. The trip to Aliados was left for later. Another parallel with the present, since if the title is confirmed this Saturday, FC Porto will only go to the city centre in matchday 34. And if Sporting do not beat Tondela today and Benfica lose in Famalicão on Saturday, there could be an early celebration.

André Villas-Boas, now president, was part of Mourinho’s coaching staff, while captain Jorge Costa stayed on the bench. This year, the possibility of the title being sealed against Alverca is, in itself, a beautiful tribute to Bicho: the match is scheduled for the 2nd…

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