National cups are something special for many teams and supporters. Today's match will decide whether it's Porto or Benfica that keep their silverware dream alive.
It's no vacation for neither Porto nor Benfica as both were in action only a few days ago. Expect some tired legs on the pitch and/or possibly some changes to the lineups.
Porto form and stats
Porto participated in Taça De Portugal the last season, where they reached the semi-finals and lost against Sporting Braga.Porto have been very solid at home in the Primeira Liga so far, with 21 points collected from 7 matches (7-0-0). This has contributed greatly to their 2nd position in the table.
The Porto goalkeeper Agustin Federico Marchesin is looking to record 90 more "clean sheet" minutes as his team have now played 324 minutes without conceding a goal in the Primeira Liga.
A strong away win for Porto against Vizela the last match, as Otávio, Sanusi and Díaz were on target. As indicated by the result mentioned above, Porto played a great game against Vizela and beat them comfortably. Expectations are high for this one. Midfielder Otávio was the best player on the team with a rating of 8.92 (out of ten) in that game. Otávio scored one goal, served one assist, hit two key passes, dribled past the opponent 2 of 2 times and had 36 successful passes (of 43 total).
Ahead of that match, Porto won a home game hosting Rio Ave (1-0).Goals are plentiful at Estádio Do Dragão in the league this season as Porto has scored 19 goals here in 7 home games. As for guarding their own goal, Porto have only let in 3 goals at home.
Benfica form and stats
Last season their Taça De Portugal adventure ended in the final.Benfica have been very strong on the road so far with a massive 22 points collected from 8 Primeira Liga games. 7 wins, 1 draw and 0 defeats is the record so far.
Benfica go into this game after a win, the home game against Maritimo that ended 7-1. As you can tell from the results above, Benfica was very dominant against Maritimo, winning the match with a scoreline that even the finest fortune teller couldn't predict. 7-1 (!) with Ramos, Silva, Seferović, Núñez (2), Gilberto and Yaremchuk providing the goals. Silva, attacking player, was the top performer on the team in that game, scoring a match rating of 10.0. Silva scored one goal, signed up for four assists, hit seven key passes, dribled past the opponent 1 of 1 times and had 35 successful passes (of 41 total).
Prior to that match, a home win 3-0 against Sporting Covilha in the League Cup.The Benfica manager Pinheiro de Jesus has seen his team go crazy on the road this season, having scored 25 goals in 8 league matches away. Benfica are tighter than a frog's bottom, as only 4 away goals have been conceded so far.
Head 2 Head
Head to head totals (for the previous ten meetings): Porto won six games, two matches ended with a tie and Benfica have two wins. Over 2,5 goals / under 2,5 goals: four / sixTop Goalscorers
  D. Núñez Ribeiro 13 goals |   L. Díaz Marulanda 12 goals |  M. Taremi 7 goals |
Porto missing players
Benfica missing players
| Porto | Benfica | ||||||
| Total | Home | Statistics | Stat | Away | Total | ||
| 25 | 12 | Played | P | 13 | 25 | ||
| 17 | 10 | Won | W | 7 | 16 | ||
| 4 | 0 | Drew | D | 5 | 5 | ||
| 4 | 2 | Lost | L | 1 | 4 | ||
| 54 | 28 | Scored | S | 30 | 63 | ||
| 23 | 12 | Conceded | C | 12 | 26 | ||
| 96% | 100% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 77% | 88% | ||
| 84% | 75% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 69% | 80% | ||
| 64% | 67% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 54% | 68% | ||
| 36% | 42% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 46% | 48% | ||
| 20% | 33% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 38% | 32% | ||
| 52% | 50% | BTTS | BTTS | 46% | 52% | ||
| 44% | 50% | Clean Sheets | C S | 54% | 40% | ||
| 8% | 0% | Failed to Score | F T | 23% | 20% | ||
| 6.1 | 6.2 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 5.2 | 5.8 | ||
| 3.5 | 3.7 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 5.5 | 4.6 | ||
| 2.5 | 2.2 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 2.5 | 2.4 | ||
| 5 | 3 | Red cards | R C | 1 | 1 | ||
| 15.9 | 17.2 | Shots (avg) | S ( | 11.8 | 13 | ||
| 5.4 | 6 | Shots on Target (avg) | S O | 5.5 | 5.7 | ||
| 40% | 39% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 42% | 44% | ||
| 7.3 | 7.8 | Shots against (avg) | S A | 13 | 11.8 | ||
| 2.7 | 2.5 | Shots on Target against (avg) | S O | 4.5 | 3.9 | ||
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | Porto | 15 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 38 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 3 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 19 | 5 | 30 | 41 |
| 2 | Sporting CP | 15 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 27 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 4 | 22 | 41 |
| 3 | Benfica | 15 | 12 | 1 | 2 | 46 | 12 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 21 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 25 | 4 | 34 | 37 |
| 4 | Sporting Braga | 15 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 24 | 16 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 16 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 28 |
| 5 | Estoril | 15 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 21 | 15 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 6 | 6 | 25 |
| 6 | Portimonense | 15 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 15 | 13 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 24 |
| 7 | Vitoria Guimaraes | 15 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 21 | 16 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 14 | 8 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 22 |
| 8 | Gil Vicente | 15 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 20 | 18 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 11 | 11 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 20 |
| 9 | Boavista | 15 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 17 | 25 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 11 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 17 | -8 | 15 |
| 10 | Maritimo | 15 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 18 | 26 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 18 | -8 | 14 |
| 11 | Pacos de Ferreira | 15 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 11 | 19 | 8 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 9 | -8 | 14 |
| 12 | Arouca | 15 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 16 | 25 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 13 | -9 | 14 |
| 13 | Vizela | 14 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 14 | 25 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 10 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 15 | -11 | 13 |
| 14 | Santa Clara | 15 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 13 | 30 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 14 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 16 | -17 | 13 |
| 15 | Tondela | 14 | 4 | 0 | 10 | 19 | 29 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 12 | 13 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 7 | 16 | -10 | 12 |
| 16 | Famalicao | 15 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 19 | 30 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 13 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 14 | 17 | -11 | 11 |
| 17 | Moreirense | 14 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 14 | 24 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 10 | 12 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 12 | -10 | 9 |
| 18 | Belenenses | 14 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 24 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 15 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 9 | -17 | 8 |