Francesco Farioli’s FC Porto still doesn’t know what it’s like to lose in the League, having recorded 15 wins and a draw, at home, against Benfica. Finishing the first round of the championship without defeats is an obvious objective, although being winter champion (it already is, given the advantage over Sporting) does not translate into guaranteed happiness at the end of the race. The overwhelming majority of the time, yes.
Next Sunday, against Santa Clara, in the Azores, the Dragons have the possibility of closing a first round without bitterness for the 16th time in their history, reinforcing an internal record that already belongs to them. The last time this happened was in the 2021/2022 season, under the command of Sérgio Conceição. At that time, FC Porto concluded the first cycle of the championship with a record of 47 points out of 51 possible, achieving 15 victories and conceding two draws.
With Santa Clara, dragons have the possibility of closing the first round undefeated and, of course, happy in life
Historically, Dragons have shown that this type of first-round performance is a strong indicator of success. In the 15 occasions in which they finished the first half of the championship without losing, FC Porto became champions on 13 of them. The only exceptions date back to the 1974/75 and 1986/87 seasons, in which, in the latter, the team reached the 15th round (Liga with 30 rounds) with the same points as Benfica, 25. In this century, four coaches were champions whenever they reached the middle of the main competition without defeats: José Mourinho (2002/03 and 2003/04), André Villas-Boas (2011/12), Vítor Pereira (2012/13) and Sérgio Conceição (2017/18 and 2021/2022).
Since victories began to be worth three points, in 1995/96, FC Porto finished the first round in the lead with a point advantage (undefeated or not) on 15 occasions, winning the title on 13 of those occasions.
The exceptions were the 1999/2000 and 2018/19 seasons. Recovering this data, in 1999/2000 FC Porto entered the second round of the championship with a three-point advantage over Sporting. However, under the command of Augusto Inácio, the lions staged an incredible recovery, finishing the League in first place with a four-point advantage, thus breaking a title drought that had lasted since the 1981/82 season.
In 2018/19, the Dragons started the second half of the championship with 43 points, five more than Benfica. However, with the arrival of Bruno Lage to replace Rui Vitória, the Reds recorded a series of 16 wins and a draw in the second round. One of the decisive moments of that campaign was Benfica’s 2-1 victory at Estádio do Dragão.
Finishing a championship without defeats is another story. Even so, FC Porto dominates the subject relatively well, despite the fact that records of a feat of this magnitude are short. It’s so rare that it’s only happened four times.
It seems incredible, but there was a club, Benfica, that even without defeats did not become national champions: in 1977/78 the Reds, led by John Mortimore, did not lose a single game in the then I Division, but were behind FC Porto. Guided by José Maria Pedroto, the Porto fans only lost once, but drew fewer, and ended up champions thanks to goal difference!
The first team to inscribe its name in this gallery of unbeatables in an edition of the League was Jimmy Hagan’s Benfica, in 1972/73. The Reds won the title with 28 wins and two draws in 30 games. Now FC Porto enters: in 2010/11, Villas-Boas had a dream season, leading the Dragons to the title with 27 wins and three draws. Two years later, the blue and whites would repeat the feat, this time with Vítor Pereira, who led the team to another title without defeat, with a record of 24 wins and six draws. It was the time when Kelvin’s goal at 90+2 in the classic against Benfica (2-1) made Jorge Jesus kneel on the Dragão’s pitch.
