Porto narrowly missed out on the title last season but will start their opening game with a visit to Moreirense. The Lions won the Taca de Portugal for a record-tying 19th time in June. They were edged out of first place by Benfica, who defeated them once more on Wednesday. Their hosts, meanwhile, have returned to the top division after only one year away.
Preview (Moreirense vs Porto)
Benfica’s first game of the 2023–24 season pitted them against one of their old rivals in the Portuguese Super Cup. Two goals in the second half were enough for Benfica to win the tumultuous game. It saw the referee award 12 yellow cards and two red cards. All of this emphasizes the Dragons’ excruciating regret at losing to the Lisbon giants once more. It was a big loss after giving up the league crown to Benfica the previous year.
They also managed to stay in the title fight up until the very last day of the season. They won all 12 of their last 12 games without losing. It was still not enough to prevent a discouraging second-place finish. The fact that no team has successfully defended the Portuguese championship in the previous six seasons may offer Porto encouragement going forward, and the summer transfers of Nico Gonzalez and Fran Navarro from Spain should undoubtedly help.
The Dragons’ opening-day rivals Moreirense did succeed in winning the top spot the previous season. They won Liga 2 by a margin of 10 points. The team from Moreira de Conegos, which was dropped in 2022 after a season in which they tried three different managers without success and were demoted in a playoff, returned to the top league under the guidance of seasoned coach Paulo Alves. However, Alves quit at the end of the year, allowing Rui Borges, a former Boavista assistant. He will make his Liga Portugal management debut. Borges’ team will have a challenging start to the league season after playing Porto on Monday. They will play Braga in the third round, then go to Sporting in September.
Team News
Zaidu Sanusi and the left-back will compete for the starting position, and new Spanish arrivals Nico Gonzalez and Fran Navarro are also pushing for a spot. Mehdi Taremi should continue to head the visitors’ front line despite Inter, the runners-up in the Champions League, showing a lot of interest; Gabriel Veron and Evanilson are likely to miss out due to injuries. The right-back Fabiano Souza, who returned to Portugal after a loan stint with Kasimpasa, is one of five defensive reinforcements that Moreirense has added this summer.
Rui Borges’ starting XI features Brazilian striker Andre Luis up front, and despite the departure of a number of players since the hosts’ Liga 2 championship, Dinis Pinto, Gilberto Batista, and the seasoned Marcelo—who has made 195 appearances in the Portuguese top division—are all fresh competitors. Moreirense might have lost some of the momentum from their outstanding 2022–23 season due to the instability of losing their promotion-winning manager and key players during the off-season. Despite having the home advantage, the visitors should be able to defeat a well-prepared Porto team on Monday night and get all three points.
Moreirense 1 – 3 Porto
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