Less than 72 hours after the first leg of the Round of 16 of the Europa League in Stuttgart, FC Porto returned home and beat Moreirense FC 3-0 on matchday 26 of a league they lead with 69 points, seven more than Sporting Lisbon, with a game in hand for the Lions. Gabri Veiga, Oskar Pietuszewski and William Gomes scored FC Porto’s goals at Estádio do Dragão.

Francesco Farioli made eight changes to the starting eleven that faced the German side and reaped the rewards of those decisions on the 13th minute: Deniz Gül picked out Oskar Pietuszewski on the left and André Ferreira managed to block the initial attempt, but Gabri Veiga made no mistake with the follow-up (1-0) and dedicated the goal to Thiago Silva, after the stands had sent him a message of support in the third minute.

Shortly afterwards, Pietuszewski forced the visiting goalkeeper into another save to prevent a second goal, which would eventually come from his feet. In the 25th minute, Pepê drove down the right, Froholdt received the ball on the edge of the box and set up the number 77, who scored for the third consecutive league match. Before half time, the home side had a couple more chances and Gabri Veiga fired in a dangerous shot, but the score remained unchanged (2-0).

After the break and the lap of honour by the Portuguese Volleyball Cup winners, Moreirense hit the post; Oskar Pietuszewski was forced off with an injury, and it was with Pablo Rosario, Rodrigo Mora, Borja Sainz and Terem Moffi already on the pitch that FC Porto began to threaten again, through the Nigerian forward.

In the 70th minute, Pepê made way for William Gomes, and the Brazilian winger didn’t take long to score a goal that sent the 44,672 fans in the stands into celebration. With a 3-0 victory secured, the focus now turns to the Europa League and the home fixture against VfB Stuttgart, scheduled for 20h00 on Thursday.