FC Porto won the handball ‘classic’ and removed Benfica from the title discussion

The ‘blue and whites’ needed to win in Luz so that the distance separating them from the leadership would at least be maintained and they ended up being successful in that aim: while Sporting beat ABC comfortably, the Porto players got the better of the classic and preserved the two-point delay for their rival in the fight for the national title.

On the side of the team led by Jota González, they found in this game a last opportunity to stay in the fight for the title, but, limited by some absences and setbacks already during the match, they ended up failing physically in the second half, without being able to avoid the defeat.

Despite the Reds’ defeat, Miguel Sánchez-Migallón was the match’s top scorer, with seven goals scored, followed by Demis Grigoras, with six, equal with the Porto players’ top scorers, Nikolaj Laesoe and Fábio Magalhães.

Faced with the obligation to win, under penalty of being definitively removed from the fight for the national title, Benfica took control of the opening minutes and achieved leads of 5-3, 6-2 and finally 7-4, completed with a counterattack. finished by Demis Grigoras.

FC Porto got closer to the result in the middle of the first half, counting on the physical power of Victor Iturriza amid the Benfica defense and precise counterattacks by António Areia, and with two consecutive seven-meter free-kicks from Laeso they reached the first turnaround of the match to 9-10.

Motivated by the public that supported them in their stadium, Benfica restored equality at 12-12 and the match would remain equal until half-time (14-14). It was, therefore, in the second half that the differences became more pronounced, with FC Porto, physically fresher and with greater rotation in their squad, imposing themselves on the result as the minutes went by.

More stable and available to respond to the demands of the match, FC Porto always led the score against Benfica who, in trying to stay in the discussion of the result, took more risks and gave up their goalkeeper in an offensive moment, ending up times punished by the effectiveness of the Porto fans, who within the last ten minutes imposed a 28-25 result that definitively sentenced the match. Until the end, FC Porto simply increased the result, winning by a margin of five goals.