With the Primeira Liga title already wrapped up, the final game of the season versus Boavista offered Benfica coach Rui Vitória the opportunity to field some of those on the fringes of the first team in celebration of a long and successful season.
Despite going 2-0 down, a spirited comeback from the Eagles earned them a 2-2 draw late on at the Bessa, taking the total of points accumulated for this campaign up to 82.
Second placed FC Porto had a spicier affair on their hands, as Moreirense attempted to avoid the drop against the odds with a positive result versus the Dragons.
The Taça da Liga winners managed to do just that, defeating the Blue and Whites 3-1 in front of a home crowd before seeing Arouca out of the division, whereas Sporting brought the season to a close with a 4-1 win at home to Chaves, with Bas Dost netting a hat-trick.
Another remarkable final weekend in the Liga NOS saw the triumphant survival of Tondela, their second stunning escape from the drop in a row.
To task a football fan with maintaining a degree of rationality is never easy, particularly when their team is embroiled a negative trend of results. Even more so when that team is based in Portugal!
Portuguese managers are in vogue. Leonardo Jardim, Sérgio Conceição, Marco Silva and Rui Vitória, just to name the most obvious examples, all greatly enhanced their reputations this season, at a time when, after a decade and a half of almost unbroken success, some argue José Mourinho has lost his magic touch. 
With one round of matches still to go in the 2016/17 Liga NOS season, Sporting have begun the job of restructuring their squad for next year after a disappointing campaign. 