The Primeira Liga championship has been won by either Porto or Benfica for the last 16 years, and bookmakers are anticipating another two-horse race at the top of the Primeira Liga this season with the fierce rivals slogging it out for glory.

Sporting lost a slew of key players in the summer. Rui Patricio, Gelson Martins, William Carvalho, Fábio Coentrão and Cristiano Piccini all left the club, while coach Jorge Jesus headed out for Saudi Arabia in the wake of the infamous Alcochete attack when 50 fans broke into the training ground and assaulted players and staff.

The oddsmakers expect Sporting to struggle this season as a result, and although the Lions have started with two wins, the tepid performances have done little to suggest anything other than a straight fight between Porto and Benfica.

• Benfica
• Primeira Liga,
• Liga NOS,
• Sporting,
• Pizzi
• Nani

Successive victories were on the cards for all of our ‘Big Three’ clubs coming out of Matchday Two of the Primeira Liga, with Benfica being the first to set the tone away to Boavista on Saturday night.

The Eagles, fuelled by goals from Facundo Ferreyra and Pizzi, took all three points at the Bessa over Boavista, meanwhile back in the Portuguese capital, a Nani double set Sporting on level terms with their rivals ahead of next Saturday’s Lisbon Derby, as the Lions took down Vitória de Setúbal with a 2-1 victory at home.

In joining the two Lisbon outfits at the top of the table, FC Porto left it late, despite having led by 2-0, with a 95th minute Alex Telles penalty snatching a 3-2 win against Belenenses on Sunday night. Here’s how the action unfolded.

Liga NOS is back for another season and with it PortuGOAL’s Figure of the Week feature. Each week we highlight the standout figure (player or manager) of the round’s action with the caveat that no individual be featured more than once throughout the campaign.

The opening weekend featured a number of entertaining, high-scoring fixtures with each of the “big three” getting off to winning starts, while promoted sides Nacional and Santa Clara tasted defeat on their return to the top flight. Picking the first outstanding player is a tricky prospect: Porto’s Yacine Brahimi was at his electric best, closely followed by his two goal team-mate Vincent Aboubakar in a 5-0 win over Chaves, while Sporting’s Dutch hitman Bas Dost picked up where he left off last season with a brace against Moreirense.

However, Benfica’s midfield talisman Pizzi outshone them all with a first half hat-trick in Friday night’s 3-2 victory against Vitória Guimarães, he is the first Figure of the Week for 2018/19.

• Benfica
• Primeira Liga,
• Bas Dost,
• Vincent Aboubakar,
• Pizzi

With a sizeable 306 games to look forward to, it’s with a spread of renewed faith that we all welcomed back Primeira Liga football for the 2018/19 season.

Our first stop, a trip to the Estádio da Luz, saw Benfica hold onto an initial three-goal lead to defeat Vitória de Guimarães 3-2, as hat-trick hero Pizzi raked the headlines in Jonas’ absence. Last season’s champions, FC Porto, followed suit with five more goals for us all to feast on in a thumping 5-0 home win against Chaves on Saturday night.

Attentions then turned to Sporting in their clash away to Moreirense, with José Peseiro kicking off his second stint in charge of the Lions with a 3-1 win. PortuGOAL reports on how it all unfolded.