A penalty for Sporting Lisbon sealed FC Porto's defeat at Estádio de Alvalade (1-0) in the first leg of the semifinal of the Portuguese Cup. The Dragons will now aim at reversing this result in the second leg, which will take place at Estádio do Dragão on April 22 or 23 (date still to be decided).

Francesco Farioli changed six players in the starting team that had lined up against FC Arouca (3-1), bringing in Francisco Moura, Alan Varela, Seko Fofana, Rodrigo Mora, William Gomes, and Terem Moffi from the start. In a signature play, the Brazilian winger showed the first sign of danger just 40 seconds into the game.

With 34 minutes gone, after Jan Bednarek had to leave the field with an injury following a mean tackle from Luis Suárez and was replaced by Jakub Kiwior, Pepê took advantage of a rebound from a corner kick to shoot, but Morita deflected the ball away from Rui Silva's goal. Before the end of the first half, which lasted 55 minutes, there was still time for William Gomes to try again to put the ball past the far post, but without success due to Gonçalo Inácio's block.

Victor Froholdt replaced Alberto Costa at the start of the second half, shortly before Alan Varela saw the post deny him a great long-range goal (48m) and Luis Suárez made it 1-0 from the penalty spot.

Rodrigo Mora and Terem Moffi were replaced by Gabri Veiga and Deniz Gül, Fofana—who minutes earlier had sent a powerful shot over the crossbar—was replaced by Oskar Pietuszewski, and the Dragons pressed hard, but without the desired result, until referee Cláudio Pereira signalled the end of the match.