Portuguese Football in English
FC Porto defeated Tondela 3-1 at Estádio Nacional to lift their 18th Taça de Portugal, sealing a domestic league and cup double in the process.
To say Os Dragões were heavy favourites going into the final would have been an understatement and so it proved as the recently crowned Primeira Liga champions proved too strong for relegated Tondela.
Two Mehdi Taremi goals as well as a Vitinha effort proved the difference, Neto Borges netting a consolation goal for Tondela.
This weekend saw the Liga Bwin campaign draw to a close (barring next week’s relegation playoff) with most of the big decisions already taken care of throughout the table.
The aforementioned playoff needed some configuring, and it was Moreirense who at least earned a stay of execution after thrashing Vizela. As a result, Tondela and Belenenses SAD descended to the second tier.
One of the most impressive results from the weekend took place at Famalicão as they came from 2-0 down to stun Braga and unexpectedly leap into a top half finish. Their top goalscorer Simon Banza was once again their hero, his two goals helping to complete their superb comeback: the French striker is our final PortuGOAL Figure of the Week for 2021/22.
The focus was at the bottom of the table on the final Saturday of the Primeira Liga season with Tondela, B-SAD and Morerirense all fighting to finish 16th and thus go into a relegation playoff and avoid automatic relegation. With the matches of all three clubs kicking off simultaneously, it was Moreirense who grabbed the playoff berth thanks to a 4-1 victory over Vizela and Tondela conceding a devastating late equaliser at home to Boavista.
At the other end of the table, Porto’s 2-0 home victory over Estoril saw the Dragons reach 91 points, a new record. Lisbon giants Benfica and Sporting ended on a high with victories over Paços de Ferreira and Santa Clara respectively.
The penultimate round of Liga Bwin action saw Porto officially crowned as league champions after a late win away at rivals Benfica. Defending champions Sporting relinquish their title despite following up the Clássico with victory at Portimonense.
The relegation battle is now also somewhat wrapped up with the bottom three confirmed, albeit in which order the trio will finish and with it who the playoff reprieve will go to remains to be seen.
Another matter that closed was Gil Vicente’s confirmation of finishing in 5th place, a remarkable achievement secured in a large part due to the outstanding form of attacker Samuel Lino, who once more starred in a victory over Tondela to cap magnificent campaigns for player and team and earns the PortuGOAL Figure of the Week title to boot.
FC Porto have been crowned the 2021/22 Primeira Liga champions after landing a late 1-0 victory against Benfica at the Estádio da Luz to secure all three points, this evening.
The Dragons were out to repeat the scenes of 11 years ago that infamously saw the northern outfit celebrate the league title at the Luz in the dark and with the watering system turned on. Porto required just one point to earn them the right to hold the prized trophy aloft.
As the two sides readied themselves to share the spoils, a 94th minute Zaidu Sanusi finish, supplemented by a devastating Pepê counter-attack, rubber-stamped a title-winning campaign for Porto - Sérgio Conceição’s third in five years.
