The 2019 Taça da Liga final was the final match of the 2018–19 Taça da Liga, the twelfth season of the Taça da Liga. It was played on 26 January 2019 at Estádio Municipal de Braga.
The competition involved the 32 clubs playing in the top two tiers of the Portuguese football league system – 18 from Primeira Liga and 14 from LigaPro – during the 2018–19 season. Reserve sides of Primeira Liga teams that played in the 2018–19 LigaPro were excluded from the competition.
Porto and Sporting CP faced off in the first final involving both teams. After a 1–1 tie, Sporting CP won the final 3–1 after a penalty shootout, thus becoming only the second team (after Benfica) in the competition's history to both defend their title and win multiple Taças da Liga.
Background For the third consecutive season, this competition featured a final four format with both the semi-finals and the final being played over a space of a few days in the same venue. The Estádio Municipal de Braga hosted all matches. Porto had the chance to win their first Taça da Liga while Sporting CP could be the first team, other than Benfica, to both win the competition multiple times as well as successfully defend the title, having won the previous final.
Route to the final
Being among the top four during the 2017–18 Primeira Liga season, Porto and Sporting CP received byes directly to the third round. Only the top team in each of the four groups advanced to the final four and both teams marginally won their groups. Porto shared the top spot in group C with Chaves both in points and goal difference, the two most important tiebreakers, having only won the group by virtue of more overall goals scored. Meanwhile, Sporting CP had the same number of points in group D as both Estoril and Feirense, having had the best goal difference from the three teams. Porto played in the first semi-final against Benfica winning the match 3–1. The following day Sporting CP drew 1–1 against Braga, the host team, during the 90 minutes in the second semi-final, winning 4–3 on penalties after a series of seven penalty rounds.
Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first (H: home; A: away; N: neutral). PortoRoundSporting CPOpponentResultStadiumFirst roundOpponentResultStadiumByeByeOpponentResultStadiumSecond roundOpponentResultStadiumByeByeOpponentResultStadiumThird roundOpponentResultStadiumChaves1–1 (H)Estádio do DragãoMatchday 1Marítimo3–1 (H)Estádio José AlvaladeVarzim4–2 (H)Estádio do DragãoMatchday 2Estoril1–2 (H)Estádio José AlvaladeBelenenses2–1 (A)Estádio NacionalMatchday 3Feirense4–1 (A)Estádio Marcolino de CastroGroup C winners TeamPorto321074+37Chaves321052+37Varzim310258−33Belenenses300325−30Final standingsGroup D winners TeamSporting CP320184+46Estoril320143+16Feirense320167–16Marítimo300337−40OpponentResultStadiumKnockout phaseOpponentResultStadiumBenfica3–1 (N)Estádio Municipal de BragaSemi-finalsBraga1–1 (4–3p) (A)Estádio Municipal de Braga
Match
Summary
Details
GK 26 VanáRB 3 Éder MilitãoCB 28 Felipe CB 33 PepeLB 13 Alex TellesRM 17 Jesús Corona CM 16 Héctor Herrera (c)CM 10 Óliver Torres LM 8 Yacine BrahimiCF 11 Moussa Marega CF 21 André Pereira Substitutes:GK 1 Iker CasillasDF 12 Wilson ManafáDF 19 Chancel MbembaMF 6 Bruno CostaMF 22 Danilo Pereira FW 7 Hernâni FW 37 Fernando Manager: Sérgio Conceição GK 40 Renan Ribeiro RB 13 Stefan Ristovski CB 6 André Pinto CB 4 Sebastián CoatesLB 9 Marcos Acuña RM 21 RaphinhaCM 86 Nemanja Gudelj CM 37 WendelLM 8 Bruno Fernandes CF 17 Nani (c) CF 28 Bas DostSubstitutes:GK 19 Romain SalinDF 5 Jefferson MF 25 Radosav Petrović MF 90 Miguel LuísFW 23 Abdoulay Diaby FW 29 Luiz PhellypeFW 77 Jovane CabralManager: Marcel Keizer
Man of the match
Yacine BrahimiBrahimi não recebeu prémio de MVP da Allianz Cup por indicação do FC Porto https://www.record.pt/futebol/futebol-nacional/liga-nos/fc-porto/detalhe/brahimi-nao-recebeu-premio-de-mvp-da-allianz-cup-por-indicacao-do-fc-porto?ref=Fora%20de%20Campo_2BlocoAreasemDestaquesFC Porto impede Brahimi de receber prémio da Taça da Liga https://bancada.pt/futebol/portugal/fc-porto-impede-brahimi-de-receber-premio-da-taca-da-liga
Assistant referees: Nuno Eiras Paulo Vieira Fourth official: Manuel Mota Video assistant referee: Tiago Martins Assistant video assistant referee: Pedro MotaMatch rules 90 minutes. Penalty shoot-out if scores still level. Seven named substitutes. Maximum of three substitutions.
See also FC Porto–Sporting CP rivalry 2018–19 FC Porto season 2018–19 Sporting CP season 2019 Taça de Portugal final
References