Taça de Portugal 2018/19 Final Tactical Preview: Sporting CP vs FC Porto

On Saturday evening, Sporting CP take on FC Porto at the Estádio Nacional in the final of the Taça de Portugal. Following a feisty encounter on the final day of the league season which ended in a dramatic 2-1 win for Porto, Sporting will be hoping to get revenge on their domestic rivals. In the following tactical analysis, we will discuss the contrasting routes to the final for the two sides as well as previewing what is to be expected tactically.

How did they get to the final?

Sporting and Porto are joint-second for the number of Taça de Portugal wins. Both sit on 16 after Sporting were beaten in difficult circumstances by Aves in last years final. As Premier League teams do in the FA Cup, both Sporting and Porto entered the competition in the Third Round. Porto easily dispatched fourth division Villa Real whilst Sporting beat third division side Loures 2-1. Sporting again faced Third Division opposition in the Fourth Round as they beat Lusitano Videmoinhos. Porto, however, had a more difficult fixture as they hosted fellow Primeira Liga side Belenenses. Nevertheless, they eased past them 2-0.

In the Fifth Round Porto came from behind to beat Moreirense 4-3 whilst Sporting easily beat Rio Ave 5-2. Surprisingly, Porto faced their toughest test in the Quarter Final when it took them until the 28th minute of extra time to finally see off Second Division Leixões 2-1. Sporting had no such problems as they beat Feirense 2-0. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the two other teams that made up the Semi-Finals were Braga and Porto. A 75th-minute goal by Bruno Fernandes sent Sporting through on away goals against their city rivals Benfica. Porto, on the other hand, easily got past Braga winning 4-1 over two legs.

FC Porto

Porto have performed excellently so far this season in the domestic competitions but one could argue that this season could turn into a nearly one for them. They were Champions League quarter-finalists before being beaten by Liverpool. They were beaten on penalties in the Taça de Liga final by Sporting in January. They narrowly lost out on the league title to Benfica, due in part to a 2-2 draw with Rio Ave (a game which they lead 2-0) at the end of April.

They have by far the meanest defence in Portugal having only conceded 20 goals in 34 league matches. They only concede eight shots per game whilst taking 17.2 in the league. In defence, Porto tend to line up in a 4-4-2.

Porto operate in a man-oriented press. As demonstrated in the image above, each Porto player is moving towards the player closest to them to prevent an easy pass from the goalkeeper. In their 4-4-2 Danilo tends to hold a little deeper but also has the licence to press high when the opportunity is there. This, however, can lead to Porto being a little exposed at times. The defensive numbers dont perhaps reflect this but some avenues for Sporting to expose were highlighted in Portos recent victory over Nacional.

Above is an image taken from the Nacional game. Porto had just turned the ball over in the final third and the Nacional keeper hit a long ball early towards the forwards. Nacional left two attackers up-field at almost all times. There was a huge space between the back two for Porto and the midfield. This sequence eventually fell to nothing due to a poor first touch but had the ball been taken under control Porto would have had a problem.