LISBON, Portugal –– Benfica won its first Portuguese Primeira Liga title in four years after defeating Santa Clara 3-0 on the final day of the season.
FC Porto finished two points behind in second after beating Guimaraes 3-0. Last year´s champion needed last-place Santa Clara to pull off a surprising win at Benfica to have a realistic shot at defending its title.
It was Benfica´s record-extending 38th league title and its first since 2019. Since Benfica´s last title, Porto had won it twice and Sporting once.
Benfica, who blew a chance to lift the title last weekend by drawing with Sporting Lisbon, made no mistake this time.
Only a defeat would have foiled their title challenge and Ramos headed home from inside the six-yard box after seven minutes to put his side on the right track.
Despite selling midfielder Enzo Fernandez to Chelsea in January after his triumphant World Cup campaign with Argentina, Benfica have had a strong campaign and also reached the Champions League quarter-finals.
Silva hit the second for Benfica at the end of a razor-sharp break, exchanging passes with Joao Mario and then firing home with the aid of a deflection.
Former Barcelona defender Grimaldo netted the third from the penalty spot after an hour and produced an emotional celebration, in his last game for the club before he joins Bayer Leverkusen.
Porto did their job at home against Guimaraes with goals from Mehdi Taremi, Otavio and Evanilson, but ultimately fell short, finishing two points behind the new champions.
Any failure to win coupled with Porto beating Vitoria de Guimaraes would have seen Porto leapfrog Benfica, and the Dragoes held up their end of the bargain with a 3-0 win of their own.
However, Benfica rarely looked like slipping up themselves as they avoided any drama on their way to a first title since 2018-19.
Fittingly, star man Goncalo Ramos got the title party up and running with his 19th Primeira Liga goal of the season just seven minutes in.
Porto responded in kind almost immediately in their game, with Mehdi Taremi giving them the lead against Guimaraes after eight minutes, by which time Vitoria were already down to 10 men courtesy of Tomas Handel’s second-minute red card.
The defending champions needed help from elsewhere, though, and Benfica gave themselves a nerve-reducing cushion with a second goal before the half-hour mark of their game as Rafa Silva doubled their advantage.
Once again, Porto quickly responded, with two goals in the space of five minutes from Otavio and Evanilson effectively putting their game against Guimaraes to bed before half time.
Only a highly-unlikely comeback from the division’s bottom side would have restored any hope for Porto, and any such optimism was extinguished once and for all when Benfica netted a third of their own through Alex Grimaldo’s penalty on the hour mark.
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