For the 30th time, FC Porto are Portuguese champions. The Dragons achieved their goal in an extremely confident manner, but also had to exercise a little patience at the back.
Fc Porto almost became the only unbeaten side in Portugal, but Sporting Braga ensured the Dragons’ whites were stained with a 1-0 win on matchday 31. The first defeat in the league since October 2020 meant Porto initially still missed out on making their 30th league title perfect just three matchdays before the end of the season.
But on Saturday, in the Portuguese classic at Benfica, Porto clinched the title with a 1-0 win, which Zaidu made perfect in injury time after a counter-attack. Just a point would have been enough for the league leaders.
Mehdi Taremi leads impressive attack
It’s an impressive title, and the numbers prove it: Porto have the joint best defence (22 goals conceded) and the best offence (84 goals) in the league alongside Sporting – and they also have a prolific attacker in Mehdi Taremi. The 29-year-old Iranian has scored 20 times in 31 league games this season. Only Benfica’s top talent Darwin, who was denied a lead by two centimetres for offside in the match against Porto, was more successful with 26 goals.
Porto replace Sporting as champions and close the gap on record champions Benfica, who can look back on 37 championships.
A lot of talent with a touch of Bundesliga
The future does not look bad for the Dragons either, as coach Sergio Conceicao has many talented players at his disposal. Although the now 39-year-old veteran Pepe raises the average age considerably, the squad also includes numerous young talents such as goalkeeper Diogo Costa (22), Joao Maria (22), Fabio Vieira (21), Vitinha (22), Evanilson (22) and coach’s son Francisco Conceicao (19), all of whom have made well over 20 league appearances.
In addition, there are also experienced players such as former Bundesliga professionals Wendell and Marko Grujic (51 BL games for Hertha BSC).