The wait is almost over. The Primeira Liga kicks off on Friday night at the Estádio da Luz in Lisbon, as Benfica host Arouca in the inaugural match of the 2022/23 Bwin Liga season.

Ten months from now, in what will be a highly unusual World Cup interrupted season, who will be crowned champions of Portugal?

With the Covid-19 pandemic finally well and truly behind us in terms of the disruption it caused to players, teams and spectators, Benfica, Porto and Sporting supporters all have plenty of reasons for optimism ahead of the new campaign. 

Gil Vicente’s European debut ended in a morale boosting 1-1 draw against Riga in the UEFA Europa Conference League third qualifying round first leg.

The Latvian club deserved their half time lead after Douglas Aurélio’s opener, but the second half was a different story.

The Gilistas dominated after the break, Juan Manuel Boselli equalising with a brilliant goal before Ali Alipour spurned a glorious chance to snatch victory in the 90th minute.

PortuGOAL's Matthew Marshall breaks down a promising performance from the Portuguese club in Latvia.

Benfica 4-1 Midtjylland

It was a highly satisfactory first competitive match of the season for Benfica who ran out 4-1 winners against Danish outfit Midtjylland in the first leg of the Champions League 3rd qualifying round in Lisbon tonight.

Young Portuguese striker Gonçalo Ramos scored a hat-trick, Argentine midfielder Enzo Fernández marked his impressive debut with a stunning goal, and such was Benfica’s dominance it is no exaggeration to say that the Portuguese side could have scored double their goal tally. Wasteful finishing and a penalty for Midtjylland scored by Sisto were the only blemishes on a good night for the Eagles. 

It feels like a fresh start for Benfica. For the first time in nearly two decades the Eagles begin the season with a new president in place, the Luís Filipe Vieira era over, replaced by club legend Rui Costa. For the first time since 2008 the Lisbon club have a foreign coach in the dugout, with German tactician Roger Schmidt producing positive early indications.

As in recent seasons, Benfica face a massively important challenge at the very start of the new campaign, having to negotiate two qualifying rounds to reach the money-laden Holy Grail that is the Champions League. On Tuesday Danish outfit Midtjylland are the opponents at the Estádio da Luz. With the aid of Danish football journalist Toke Theilade, PortuGOAL previews the tie.