Portuguese League - Liga Portugal 2026/2027

[Yabani]

In matches like this, it is crucial not to be left a man down on the pitch. Had Lenglet kept his cool, he wouldn't have received a red card, and Benfica wouldn't have lost. After all, Benfica was the side that started the match strongly; had I watched the highlights without knowing the result, I would have assumed Benfica had won.
Porto finished the first half leading 1-0. In the second half, Benfica managed to equalize despite being down to ten men, but the disadvantage of playing shorthanded eventually saw them fall behind again. Porto won the match 3-1, yet I was more impressed by Benfica's performance.
Benfica is currently trailing by five points, but Porto is bound to drop points as the season progresses.
There are three unbeaten teams in the league so far. Porto and Lisbon are expected, of course, but Santa Clara has been the surprise package. I checked the fixture list, and Santa Clara hasn't played against any of the big teams yet.

Porto would not have won this match had Benfica not been reduced to ten men. Lenglet showed great naivety in this game; while slapping an opponent is an action warranting a straight red card, the referee sent him off for a second yellow card. Up until that moment, Benfica had held significant dominance in the match. Even though Porto was ahead on the scoreboard thanks to Veiga, Benfica possessed greater playing strength.
I believe Benfica has learned the necessary lessons from this match.

[joker_josue]

It was a day full of emotions, even before the break for the national team games.
We saw Sporting letting themselves tie the game in a truly surprising way, getting further away from first place.

Then, we had the big classic: Porto vs Benfica.
As always, they are games with a lot of emotion. Despite the good start to the game by Benfica, half an hour into the game, they played with one less.
From then on, everything became more complicated. Even without giving up, even managing to equalize, they were not able to avoid defeat.

Here are the results of the matchday.

MATCH DAY 7 - RESULTS:
CD Nacional 0-4 Famalicão
Gil Vicente 1-1 Marítimo
Alverca 1-0 Rio Ave
Sporting CP 2-2 Arouca
Vitória SC 1-1 Moreirense
Amadora 0-2 Acad. Viseu
Santa Clara 0-0 Braga
Estoril Praia 1-2 Casa Pia
Porto 3-1 SL Benfica

[Creeper0]

Porto would not have won this match had Benfica not been reduced to ten men. Lenglet showed great naivety in this game; while slapping an opponent is an action warranting a straight red card, the referee sent him off for a second yellow card. Up until that moment, Benfica had held significant dominance in the match. Even though Porto was ahead on the scoreboard thanks to Veiga, Benfica possessed greater playing strength.
I believe Benfica has learned the necessary lessons from this match.

It would be wrong to say that Porto would not have won the match if Benfica had not gone down to ten men, but I think the match would have been very exciting and competitive. It would have been difficult to say which team would have won or which team could have won. Benfica were dominant before Clément Lenglet got a red card, so it doesn't mean they would have won the match. You can watch Manchester United vs Manchester City where City won the match even after going down to ten men. So it is wrong to make the excuse that a team lost the match because of a red card.