The same pressure, the same commitment and the same intensity. On an extremely difficult pitch, the league leaders stood firm and staged a comeback in ten minutes on matchday 27 of the Portuguese League (2-1). Thanks to goals from William Gomes and Seko Fofana, FC Porto is now at 72 points, seven more than their rivals from Lisbon.

Francesco Farioli made eight changes from the European line-up and fielded the same starting XI as in the last league match against Moreirense; the well-established principle of pressing across the whole pitch was maintained from the opening whistle, and Alan Varela came close to scoring in the fourth minute with a powerful shot from the edge of the box that skimmed past the right post of goalkeeper Lukas Hornicek’s goal.

Pushed forward by the vibrant support from the away section at Estádio Municipal de Braga, the Dragons created another chance with a header from Oskar Pietuszewski that went wide (7 mins) before Niakaté stepped into the spotlight: in the 27th minute, the home centre-back pushed Zaidu near the box and into the path of referee António Nobre, who let the play continue, and in the 34th minute he pulled Deniz Gül back from behind as he was bearing down on goal, yet was shown only a yellow card. Gabri Veiga almost diverted attention from the decision with a curling shot that went just wide of the post, but the score remained goalless until the teams returned to the dressing rooms.

In the second half, SC Braga’s number 4 was back in the spotlight, but this time in the blue and white penalty area. In the 51st minute, following a corner taken from the right, he went down after a physical challenge with Gabri Veiga and the referee immediately pointed to the penalty spot, from where Rodrigo Zalazar made it 1–0. The incident also resulted in a yellow card, banning the Spanish midfielder from the next match, at home, against FC Famalicão.

William Gomes and Terem Moffi were immediately brought on in place of Pepê and Deniz Gül; Victor Froholdt struck a powerful shot that Hornicek saved (58 mins), and the Brazilian winger came close to scoring another trademark goal (60 mins) before Diego Rodrigues assaulted Alan Varela and a straight red card was shown… to FC Porto’s assistant manager Lino Godinho (62 mins). Pablo Rosario and Seko Fofana replaced Alan Varela and Gabri Veiga (66 mins) and were nearby for the equaliser: Jakub Kiwior played Oskar Pietuszewski in behind Gabriel Moscardo and the Polish winger set up William Gomes for the 1-1 (69 mins).

Borja Sainz replaced Oskar Pietuszewski in the 78th minute and the turnaround was not long in coming. Shortly afterwards, William Gomes delivered a precise corner from the right, Victor Froholdt flicked it on at the near post and Seko Fofana, already inside the box, fired a powerful shot into the back of the net (2-1, 79 mins), sending the thousands of fans in the stands into celebration. The Ivory Coast international midfielder also combined with Terem Moffi and came close to scoring a second (86 mins), but the score remained unchanged until the final whistle.