Both Portuguese giants could remain unbeaten (video)
After 19 games of a 30 game season, Portuguese giants Porto and Benfica both remain unbeaten in the Portuguese Primeira Liga.
The two clubs share an identical record having each had 15 wins, 4 draws and scoring 47 goals. Reigning champions Porto hold top spot in the league having conceded only 9 goals to Benfica’s 14.
Nearest challengers Pacos Ferreira are 14 points adrift of Porto and Benfica in 3rd place which highlights the great disparity between Portugal’s two most successful clubs and the chasing pack.
Porto and Benfica both remain in European competition. Porto will play the first leg of an Iberian derby this week as they entertain Malaga in the second round of the Champions League. After exiting the Champions League at the group stage Benfica also play this week, hosting German outfit Leverkusen in the Europa League
Porto have only lost one top-flight match in the last two and a half seasons and remained unbeaten throughout the 2010-11 season, dropping only 6 points under the stewardship of current Tottenham Hotspur boss Andre Villas-Boas.
Benfica last won the Primeira Liga in 2010 and will be looking to halt Porto’s bid to achieve three league titles in a row.
The two sides have only met once so far this season, drawing 2-2 in an entertaining game in Lisbon in which all four goals were scored within the first 17 minutes.
The current fortunes of both Porto and Benfica are in stark contrast to those of Portuguese football’s third giant – Sporting Lisbon – who are presently languishing in 9th position in the Primeira Liga, largely as a result of financial hardship which has befallen on the club.
Porto and Benfica share an astonishing 58 out of 78 title wins in top flight Portuguese football, with Benfica having recorded 6 more than their fiercest rivals from the north of the country.
Dragoes and Aguias are set to do battle again on the 12th of May – the second last game of the season – in what already looks to be a winner takes all match for the title as they each try to destroy the other’s unbeaten record.
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