The perfect storm of creativity and opportunities that the Dragons showed against Santa Clara and Benfica spread to Portimão, where FC Porto beat Portimonense 3-0 in matchday 25 of the League. Dominating from the first to the last second, the blue and whites won thanks to the goals of Nico González (7m), Galeno (59m) and Pepê (78m) and now have 55 points, three behind Benfica and four behind Sporting, with both rivals playing on Sunday.

Portimonense was coming from five games without winning, but the Dragons, motivated by the overwhelming victory in the classic, went in with their eyes set on Nakamura's goal and, seven minutes later, scored the first of the evening.

In response to a dangerous counterattack by the opponent, Pepe placed an excessively deep ball on the right, but the pressure of João Mário and Francisco Conceição forced the opposing defence to clear into the area, where Evanilson came up to intercept the pass and push the ball to Galeno, who, with a small touch, allowed Nico to score his first in blue and white.

Soon after (9m), Galeno recovered the ball in good position on the left and found Pepê, who, face to face with the Japanese goalkeeper, tried to chip the ball, but hit the top bar and went out, to the despair of the Brazilian midfielder.

26 minutes in, Nico González almost scored his second. In a set piece on the left, Alan Varela did a short pass to Pepê, the ball went to the right wing, Francisco Conceição dribbled his marker, ran to the end line and crossed back to the heart of the area, where the Spanish midfielder shot with power, but Nakamura did a great save.

On the attack and focused on increasing the lead, with over 70% ball possession, the blue and whites assaulted the opposing goal on several occasions, but details when it came to shooting for goal prevented them from scoring again in the first half (1-0).

As dominant for the second half, the Dragons constantly found the way to the last third of the pitch and, 59 minutes in, increased their lead (2-0). After an overly wide cross from João Mário, Wendell got the ball on the left and passed to Galeno. The number 13, just outside the area, cut inside and placed the ball next to the post, for his sixth goal in the championship.

67 minutes in, however, with good conditions to score his second, the winger was unable to make it count. After a magnificent counter played in first touches, Evanilson received with space in the middle and passed to Galeno, who, alone in front of Nakamura, couldn’t make it count. Two minutes later, Evanilson headed a cross from Wendell, but was offside.

Francisco Conceição was the heartstopper 75 minutes in, when his shot grazed the post, but, shortly after, Pepê made it 3-0, 79 minutes in. The Brazilian midfielder found Jorge Sánchez on the right wing, the fullback returned the ball to the number 11 in a low cross, and Pepê calmly finished it. Embraced by his colleagues, he celebrated his second goal in two consecutive games (3-0).

A word to the fans as it wasn’t just on the pitch that there were moments of brilliance. On the stands, more than 500 kilometres away from home and under continuous rain during the entire game, a few hundred blue and white fans vibrantly supported the team from the first to the last minute.