Vitória made the short trip from Guimarães to the Estádio do Dragão and pulled off a surprise by beating Porto 3-1 to knock the Blue & Whites out of the Portuguese League Cup and book their place in the semi-final against Sporting.
The hosts started well enough with Gabri Veiga continuing his rich vein of form by latching onto a long ball from Pablo Rosario and scoring in the 8th minute. The Spaniard did not have time to celebrate though, beckoning for the physios to come on immediately as he appeared to have incurred a serious injury, but after extensive treatment he was able to continue.
The game took an unexpected turn with two goals either side of half time resulting from bad mistakes by Porto players. First Rosario clumsily gave the ball away to Camara, then committed a penalty when trying to win it back. Nélson Oliveira scored from the spot.
In the 53rd minute it was Alan Varela’s turn to have a lapse of concentration as he allowed Samu to steal the ball off his toes as the last defender. The veteran midfielder ran clear through on goal and confidently beat Cláudio Ramos to make it 2-1 to Vitória and send their fans into ecstasy.
They were celebrating even more wildly soon afterwards when Samu forced the ball into net after a goalmouth scramble, but VAR intervened to chalk off the goal for a foul by Ndoye on Rosario.
But in the 79th minute Vitória did make it 3-1 and this time it counted. Oumar Camara scored Vitória’s second penalty of the game after Stephen Eustáquio had tripped Noah Saviolo.
There was no way back for Porto, who lose their first game in domestic competition in 2025/26.
Vitória will play Sporting in the first semi-final of the Taça da Liga on Tuesday 6 January, with Benfica locking horns against Braga in the other semi-final the day after. The final will be played on Saturday 10 January, with all the “Final Four” matches taking place in Leiria.
