The championship of great surprises

In the wake of its last five games without a win, counting towards the Championship, Futebol Clube do Porto cannot speak of acceptable moments, which contributed greatly to its current classification, now six points behind the two leaders, Sporting and Benfica.

And from that hangover there are four draws and just one victory, a narrow 1-0 victory over Sporting Farense, just a few hours after former President Pinto da Costa left us forever.

These draws for the blue and white team took place against Santa Clara, Rio Ave, Sporting and, yesterday, Vitória de Guimarães.

These are unthinkable and unacceptable outcomes for a team that is always considered a candidate to successfully compete in all the competitions in which it is involved.

Looking at the list of draws conceded by the Dragons, only the one conceded against Sporting, albeit at the Dragão, could be accepted by those who usually look at our main competition, and even less so by members and fans of Futebol Clube do Porto.

For now, with eleven rounds of the Championship still to be played, it is naturally risky to draw up scenarios that would lead to Martín Assensi's team being excluded from the fight for the champion's title.

Their closest competitors still have some difficult games ahead of them, adding to this the various injuries that continue to affect both teams, and which could have a decisive influence on their performances in the future.

Looking at the other side of the coin, we see that Sporting de Braga has come close to the Dragons in the table, now with the same number of points, which is a concern, as the next European Champions League is at stake, and for the qualification of Porto and Minho, they now face very similar risks.

Meanwhile, the Portuguese Cup will follow, with FCPorto already out, and the games corresponding to the quarter-finals, the most notable of which will be Benfica-Braga, tomorrow, at 20:45, and on Thursday, Gil Vicente-Sporting at the same time, a subject we will return to.

Also worth highlighting is the clash between Elvas and Tirsense, which opens the matchday today, at the Alentejo stadium, worthy of the best and oldest memories.