Four clashes in the 2023/24 season, with three victories for Estoril which translated into six points lost by FC Porto in the championship and removal from the League Cup. The faint hopes that the “dragons” still had of trying to reach the national title seem to have vanished once and for all. At the António Coimbra da Mota Stadium, the “blue and whites” dominated during the first hour, but, at 69′, six minutes after the referee reversed the decision to award a penalty to the Porto fans, the game collapsed like a pack of cards. for FC Porto: Diogo Costa was sent off and, following the free-kick, Cassiano scored the goal that dictated the Porto fans’ fifth defeat at I turns on.
After a 15-day break in which he was deprived of a dozen players who had served for his national teams, Sérgio Conceição traveled to Estoril with the certainty that FC Porto had no margin for error. After the victories of Sporting and Benfica, the “dragons” started round 27 with ten points less than the “lions” and nine points than the “eagles”. For this reason, the Porto coach placed the model team for 2024, with a new addition on the bench: Taremi no longer has a place among the substitutes.
For Vasco Seabra, who had just two points of advantage over the play-offthere was no chance of also betting on stability and repeating the “eleven” that in the last round had won an important victory against Portimonense: the influential Guitane and Pedro Álvaro were not options for the Estoril coach due to injury.
With these ingredients, the match started with a dominating FC Porto and a more pragmatic Estoril than Vasco Seabra’s teams usually are. However, a loss of the ball by Francisco Conceição in the 7th minute allowed Tiago Araújo to advance unopposed down the left aisle and put the ball to Cassiano, who only missed celebrating his seventh goal in the championship thanks to Diogo Costa.
From then on, reflecting their clear dominance in possession (75% in the first 45 minutes), it was FC Porto who benefited from three excellent opportunities, but Wendell (24′), Varela (28′) and Evanilson (33′) They did not prevent the break from arriving with an uncomfortable (for the Porto fans) 0-0 draw.
The start of the second half seemed like a replica of the first: despite the “dragons” dominating, at 52′ it was Estoril who came close to scoring. Unable to translate their supremacy into opportunities, FC Porto seemed to have the problem resolved in the 59th minute, when António Nobre scored a penalty following a collision between Francisco Conceição and Mangala. However, alerted by VAR, the referee went to see the images and considered that the French defender had not committed a foul.
With the Porto fans still contesting the decision, the move came that completely changed the match. At 65′, a stupid delay by Otávio forced Diogo Costa to make a bad catch and then bring down Heriberto, being punished with a straight red. The worst, for FC Porto, was yet to come: when taking the free kick, Cassiano was happy (deflection in the wall) and beat Cláudio Ramos, who, without having touched the ball, conceded the goal that dictated the third defeat of the Porto team’s season. “dragons” against Estoril and a very dark scenario in the fight for the title: with seven rounds to go, ten points behind Sporting, who still have one game less.
