The Portuguese season really gets underway this week as we have an O Clássico meeting between Benfica and FC Porto.
This is for the Portugal Super Cup and the match will be played on the 9th of August at the Estádio Municipal de Aveiro.
📸 Feyenoord vs. #SLBenfica#PreSeason pic.twitter.com/OqGquPIR0G— SL Benfica (@slbenfica_en) July 30, 2023
📸 Feyenoord vs. #SLBenfica#PreSeason pic.twitter.com/OqGquPIR0G
Benfica won the Primeira Liga last season while Porto won the Taça de Portugal and finished second in the league table.
Benfica come into this match on the back of a 2-1 friendly defeat at the hands of Feyenoord at the end of July.
It took only 12 minutes for the Dutch club to open the scoring and they added a second goal in the 34th minute.
Benfica got a goal back in the 85th minute but it was too little too late for the Portuguese champions.
The loss to Feyenoord was the second successive defeat in preseason for Benfica following the 2-0 loss against Burnley.
However, there have been some positives for Benfica in preseason and they have beat Southampton, Basel, Al Nassr, and Celta Vigo.
Benfica ended last season on a 6 match unbeaten run in the league, winning 5 of those games.
We must go back to 2020 to find the last time Benfica played in the Portuguese Super Cup and they lost 2-0 to Porto.
They did win their previous 3 Super Cup fixtures, beating Sporting Braga, Vitoria Guimaraes, and Sporting Lisbon.
FC Porto come into the game having been held to a 1-1 draw by Rayo Vallecano in their final friendly of the preseason.
That result means FC Porto failed to win any of their last 3 friendlies, with a draw against Estrela and a 1-0 defeat against Wolverhampton Wanderers of the English Premier League.
FC Porto ended last season strongly in the Primeira Liga and were just 2 points off Benfica at the end of the campaign.
FC Porto went on a 9 match winning run at the end of the 2022/23 league season, including a 2-1 win at Benfica.
FC Porto were excellent defensively and they conceded only 5 goals in their final 10 league matches of last season.
In terms of the Portuguese Super Cup, FC Porto are the defending champions having beat Tondela 3-0 last season.
They have won each of their last 8 Portuguese Super Cup fixtures, beating Benfica twice and conceding only 2 goals in those 8 victories.
Team news: Benfica have spent money on central midfielder Orkun Kökcü and left back David Jurasek, with both expected to start the game.
Ángel Di María has joined on a free from Juventus.
FC Porto are expected to be without midfielder João Mário who has a knee injury.
Nico González and Fran Navarro who have joined from Barcelona and Gil Vicente respectively, and both could make their debuts in this match.
This is going to be a tight game between the best two clubs in Portugal last season.
FC Porto have a fantastic record in the Portuguese Super Cup, including 2 wins over Benfica in recent times and it could be them who come out on top, winning to nil.