Out of the 18 clubs in Portugal’s top flight this season, only four have the same head coach with whom they started the 2024/25 campaign.

The Primeira Liga is often a manager’s graveyard, but this campaign has broken records in terms of instability in the dugout.

For a start, it is the first time in close to 100 years of history of the competition that all three of Portugal’s major clubs – Sporting, Benfica and Porto – have changed their coach in the course of the season. 

Gil Vicente 0-1 Sporting

Sporting beat Gil Vicente 1-0 in Barcelos thanks to a long-range goal by Belgian centre-back Zeno Debast, today playing in midfield and Sporting’s best player on the night.

Going into the match, neither team had won in their previous five games, and it was the hosts who held the upper hand in the first half, Gil only denied the lead by Sporting goalkeeper Rui Silva who pulled off two fantastic saves.

The Lions improved after the break and after taking the lead it was the turn of Gil goalkeeper Brian Araújo to shine, the French stopper thwarting Viktor Gyökeres with two superb saves.

When Gil went down to ten men it looked all over for the hosts, but the home fans erupted in joy in stoppage time when Rúben Fernandes headed in Félix Correia’s cross, only for the goal to be ruled out by the tightest of offside calls, VAR concluding that Gil’s captain was 3cm offside. José Ricardo Leite reports. 

While this competition is one of the most unpredictable in the country, that doesn’t mean that we cannot have some normality around here once in a while. Given how this season has gone, it is something of news to have “normality in the Segunda Liga” at least one weekend.

Everyone who was supposed to win, won. Everyone who was supposed to lose, lost. 

A sizzling first-half goal from red-hot Greek striker Vangelis Pavlidis was enough for Benfica to overcome Braga and book a Portuguese Cup semi-final berth against 4th-tier Tirsense.

The Eagles dominated a one-sided opening 45 minutes and although Braga improved after the break Carlos Carvalhal’s team never truly threatened to get back into it, the home goalkeeper Samuel Soares without a save to make all night.

At the other end of the pitch a catalogue of fine stops from the impressive Lukas Hornicek kept the game alive until the final whistle but Benfica deservedly progress and will be overwhelming favourites to make it to Jamor.

Bruno Lage’s team have now won seven and drawn one of their last eight matches and have been given the weekend off to help them prepare for next Wednesday’s Champions League clash against Barcelona.