THE enjoying the best start ever in the championship in more than 86 years, FC Porto faces Estoril Praia, the only club without triumphs this season in the competition, in a clash between the extremes of the classification.
In the previous round, a victory at Gil Vicente (1-0) allowed the team coached by the Italian Francesco Farioli to surpass the eight victories recorded at the start of the I League in 2007/08, then with Jesualdo Ferreira, and continue to get closer to the ‘blue and white’ club’s record, which is 13 and comes from 1939/40, when the Portuguese-Hungarian Mihály Siska led the ‘dragons’.
Unlike the Champions League, in which it started with three defeats in the same number of matches – the two most recent coming before the duel in Barcelos -, FC Porto leads the I League, with a total of 27 points.
Estoril Praia, 18th and last placed, has just two points and is temporarily coached by Sérgio Raimundo, promoted from the ‘canarinha’ under-23 team after the departure of Vasco Matos two weeks ago.
FC Porto is chased by Benfica, second, with 22 points, and the ‘eagles’ come from four victories in various competitions, including two for the championship, and will host Alverca, eighth, with 11 on Monday, in a round subsequent to the League Cup quarter-final games.
Two days after losing for the second time in a row, Sporting, with an alternative team, defeated Marítimo (2-1), on Tuesday, and became the first qualified for the ‘final four’ of the League Cup, softening its worst phase of the season, in which it is nine points behind the leadership of the I League and with much criticism of coach Rui Borges.
Sporting will enter into action at the opening of the 10th round, when they face Casa Pia, 16th, in Rio Maior on Friday, with seven points, at a time when they are third and have the same 18 as Santa Clara, fourth and Marítimo’s opponent on Sunday, in an island duel.
The ‘big ones’ compete first in another European round, like Sporting de Braga, ninth, with 11 points, who host Famalicão, 11th, with 10, in a repeat of Thursday’s meeting in the League Cup, probably still with Ricardo Silva in Famalicão’s interim command.
Making his debut will be João Henriques, Nacional’s third effective coach this season, who is 15th, with seven points, and visits Arouca, fifth, with 17.
Host of Rio Ave, positioned in the relegation zone and in 17th and penultimate place, with seven points, Académico de Viseu, sixth, with 17, tries to increase a historic cycle of consecutive victories in the championship to six.
The 10th round ends with two challenges simultaneously on Monday, Benfica-Alverca and the Minho duel between Gil Vicente and Vitória de Guimarães, who failed to qualify for the League Cup, despite having won the trophy in 2025/26.
10th round program:
– Friday, Oct 30:
Casa Pia – Sporting, 20:15
– Saturday, Oct 31:
Moreirense – Estrela da Amadora, 15:30
FC Porto – Estoril Praia, 20:30
– Sunday, 01 Nov:
Arouca – National, 15:30
Maritime – Santa Clara, 18:00
Viseu Academic – Rio Ave, 18:00
Sporting de Braga – Famalicão, 20:30
– Monday, 02 Nov:
Benfica – Alverca, 20:15
Gil Vicente – Vitória de Guimarães, 20:15
