Although there was no surprise in the Champions League draw, it did not disappoint the Porto people. After all, there were only two bottom players in the quarterfinals Porto and Villarreal. Porto only had one-seventh chance to draw Villarreal, and the chances of drawing the giants were as high as six-seventh. Complaining about bad luck would be a little too greedy.

The Champions League quarter-finals started early, and Porto's main task is to win the Portuguese League Cup.

The Portuguese League Cup was an event that was established last season. The participating teams are all professional members of the Portuguese Football Association. The competition is divided into five rounds. The first round of participating teams are low-level league teams below the Portuguese Super League, and two rounds of knockout matches are adopted.

The teams promoted were divided into three groups with the last 10 teams in the Portuguese Super League (including the newly promoted team) in the last season, with three teams in each group. The single-cycle game system was adopted, and the group's top ranked team advanced.

The 6 teams advanced to the top 6 teams in the Portuguese Super League last season were divided into three groups, with four teams in each group. The single-cycle game system was adopted, and the group's top ranking was promoted and the best second-rank team advanced.

The semi-finals and finals adopt a single-game elimination method. If both sides draw within 90 minutes, they will directly engage in a penalty shootout.

It is not difficult to win the League Cup, but the champion cannot qualify for the European Cup next season, and winning the championship has no substantial significance. No team wants to fight to the death in this event, which has affected the league. Therefore, almost all teams use the Portuguese League Cup to train.

However, in the finals, since they are already very close to the championship honor, both Benfica and Porto, who entered the finals, pay attention to the game.

Benfica lost hope of winning the championship early in the league, and the Portuguese Cup was eliminated, leaving only the Portuguese Cup champion to compete for. They attach more importance to this championship than Porto.

March 21 at 7:45 pm

The stands at the Dragon Stadium were already filled with fans from all over Portugal, all of whom came to watch the Portuguese Cup finals in Porto and Benfica.

This is the first champion decided in Portugal football this season. Although it is useless, it has a lot of meaning.

With it, Benfica can avoid the result of being empty in all four, and Porto can also realize the dream of a triple crown.

For Gao Xiaodong, the actual significance of this Portuguese Cup final is obviously more than that of others.

According to the system regulations, if the League Cup champion wins the championship, Gao Xiaodong will be able to score two systems, and in addition, he will also receive the system's red envelope reward.

After returning to Porto, the score became easier and easier. After being promoted to the B-level professional level, Gao Xiaodong now has 12 system points. The two points of the League Cup champion can only win one league game. It's nothing, but the red envelope reward is very attractive to Gao Xiaodong. He hasn't received a red envelope for a long time. Gao Xiaodong really wants to know that if he wins the League Cup championship this time, what treasures can the system reward.

When playing at home, he still had his old opponent. Porto was proactive at the beginning and was ready to solve his opponent within 90 minutes.

Benfica played more aggressively than Porto. Although their strength was weaker than Porto, they would never fall into a fight. In the national derby, even if they lost, they would never be afraid. If they lost, Benfica fans could accept it. If they were afraid, they would be scolded to death by the fans.

If you are not strong enough, you must use running to make up for it. Benfica's running is very active. In the frontcourt, except for Cardoso who is too tall and does not need to return to defense, other veterans like Aimal and Reyes, as well as potential newcomers like Di Maria, are actively returning to defend to the front of their penalty area.

Porto's preparations for this game are not as sufficient as Benfica. They reached the quarterfinals of the Champions League, which made them feel a little disrespectful to their domestic opponents.

At the beginning of the game, Porto was able to compete with Benfica, but fifteen minutes later, their midfielders were separated and surrounded by Benfica. Gao Xiaodong turned around and looked around, feeling that they were all opponents around him, and it was difficult to find the pass point except to go backwards.

Ferreira's face turned grim. He didn't expect Benfica to perform so well. It seemed that his opponent was determined to win the championship. Ferreira sighed and felt that it was necessary to remind the captain Gao Xiaodong on the field. Otherwise, if this continues, Porto may have the possibility of conceding the ball.

The commentator on the scene said: "Benfica was crazy. It seems that they are going to make a big news at the door of Porto's house today. Di Maria is very active today. As Benfica's most popular newcomer, a team has already given him 20 million euros, but it is definitely not comparable to Gao Xiaodong. Maybe this is also the reason why Di Maria fights so hard today. He wants to prove that he is not inferior to Gao Xiaodong..."

Porto coach Ferrera had an idea and acted a little slower. Before he could remind Gao Xiaodong, Benfica scored a goal.

In the 20th minute of the game, Di Maria passed two consecutively along the wing, and then singled out against Porto right defender Fucile.

Fucilai fought and retreated, wanting to wait for his teammates to come up to assist in defense, but Di Maria suddenly cut across and rushed directly into the penalty area.

Although Fucilai moved across, he did not follow him firmly. He did not believe that Di Maria would break into the penalty area from one side of the penalty area.

However, Di Maria broke through very firmly and actually dribbled into the penalty area. Facing Porto central defender Sapuruna who made up for defense, Di Maria dunked the ball and dribbled past Sapuruna, ignoring his teammate Cardoso who was grabbing the point in the middle. He ignored Reyes who was stepping forward at the front of the penalty area and kicked a curve ball with his left foot and shot the back corner of the goal.

"Danger!"

"Outer feet!"

"I actually shot!"

"It's better to pass the ball."

...

This was a very unexpected breakthrough and shot. Porto goalkeeper Helton was not prepared and could only watch the ball heading towards the back corner of the goal.

Bang!

Di Maria was not lucky, and the ball hit the crossbar and bounced out.

At this time, the disadvantages of the lack of experienced captain Alves were revealed. The young central defender Rolando was still stunned, while Benfica striker Cardoso had moved over to make a shot. He headed the ball and sent the ball into Porto's goal.

1:0

In the 21st minute, Cardoso's shot took the lead for Benfica.

The noisy Dragon Stadium suddenly became quiet. Porto, which had won brilliant victories in the league and the Champions League, was actually behind. Porto fans couldn't believe their eyes.

The live commentator said sternly: "In the 20 minutes of today's opening, Porto did not play well. They seemed to be underestimating the enemy and did not take their mortal enemy Benfica seriously. These young people forgot that the national derby is always a different game. No matter how bad Benfica is in this season, they will always adjust their state to the best in the national derby. Fortunately, the goal was scored earlier, and Porto still has a chance to equalize. Porto must be serious and do his best to win the first championship trophy of the season to enhance morale for the next Champions League quarterfinals..."

This is the first time Gao Xiaodong leads a team to participate in the championship battle as the captain. Unexpectedly, he was beaten in front of more than 40,000 fans at his doorstep, and Gao Xiaodong is a little angry.

While the Benfica people were celebrating, Gao Xiaodong was about to call his teammates to train, but he didn't expect Ferrera to call him over first.

"Xiaodong, you can't play like this. This is not a competition for a useless championship. This is a national derby. You must be treated as a national derby, otherwise we will lose."

Gao Xiaodong slapped his chest and said, "Don't worry, coach, the team will change soon."

Going back, Gao Xiaodong immediately ran forward twenty minutes without any active movement, and several teammates who were so show off that they were so angry.

"Hurry up and cheer me up, run, fight, damn, playing football is not about treating guests to dinner, we want the champion, and the scene must also be needed. Today we want to abuse them, who will not run away in a while, who will hide when fighting, you will immediately get off the court! The coach said, don't participate in such a player in the Champions League."
Chapter completed!