2019 Taça da Liga Final
# 2019 Taça da Liga Final

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).

| Porto | Porto | Porto | Round | Sporting CP | Sporting CP | Sporting CP |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Opponent | Result | Stadium | First round | Opponent | Result | Stadium |
| Bye | Bye | Bye | First round | Bye | Bye | Bye |
| Opponent | Result | Stadium | Second round | Opponent | Result | Stadium |
| Bye | Bye | Bye | Second round | Bye | Bye | Bye |
| Opponent | Result | Stadium | Third round | Opponent | Result | Stadium |
| Chaves | 1–1 (H) | Estádio do Dragão | Matchday 1 | Marítimo | 3–1 (H) | Estádio José Alvalade |
| Varzim | 4–2 (H) | Estádio do Dragão | Matchday 2 | Estoril | 1–2 (H) | Estádio José Alvalade |
| Belenenses | 2–1 (A) | Estádio Nacional | Matchday 3 | Feirense | 4–1 (A) | Estádio Marcolino de Castro |
| Group C winners Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Porto 321074+37 Chaves 321052+37 Varzim 310258−33 Belenenses 300325−30 | Group C winners Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Porto 321074+37 Chaves 321052+37 Varzim 310258−33 Belenenses 300325−30 | Group C winners Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Porto 321074+37 Chaves 321052+37 Varzim 310258−33 Belenenses 300325−30 | Final standings | Group D winners Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Sporting CP 320184+46 Estoril 320143+16 Feirense 320167–16 Marítimo 300337−40 | Group D winners Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Sporting CP 320184+46 Estoril 320143+16 Feirense 320167–16 Marítimo 300337−40 | Group D winners Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Sporting CP 320184+46 Estoril 320143+16 Feirense 320167–16 Marítimo 300337−40 |
| Opponent | Result | Stadium | Knockout phase | Opponent | Result | Stadium |
| Benfica | 3–1 (N) | Estádio Municipal de Braga | Semi-finals | Braga | 1–1 (4–3p) (A) | Estádio Municipal de Braga |

## Match

### Details

| Porto | Sporting CP |
| - | - |
| GK | 26 | Vaná |
| RB | 3 | Éder Militão |
| CB | 28 | Felipe | 45' |
| CB | 33 | Pepe |
| LB | 13 | Alex Telles |
| RM | 17 | Jesús Corona | 25' | 82' |
| CM | 16 | Héctor Herrera (c) |
| CM | 10 | Óliver Torres | 68' | 90+4' |
| LM | 8 | Yacine Brahimi |
| CF | 11 | Moussa Marega | 90+3' |
| CF | 21 | André Pereira | 64' |
| Substitutes: ||
| GK | 1 | Iker Casillas |
| DF | 12 | Wilson Manafá |
| DF | 19 | Chancel Mbemba |
| MF | 6 | Bruno Costa |
| MF | 22 | Danilo Pereira | 82' |
| FW | 7 | Hernâni | 90+4' |
| FW | 37 | Fernando | 64' |
| Manager: ||
| Sérgio Conceição ||
| GK | 40 | Renan Ribeiro | 90+6' |
| RB | 13 | Stefan Ristovski | 66' |
| CB | 6 | André Pinto | 29' | 53' |
| CB | 4 | Sebastián Coates |
| LB | 9 | Marcos Acuña | 35' | 45' |
| RM | 21 | Raphinha |
| CM | 86 | Nemanja Gudelj | 83' |
| CM | 37 | Wendel |
| LM | 8 | Bruno Fernandes | 90+5' |
| CF | 17 | Nani (c) | 45' |
| CF | 28 | Bas Dost |
| Substitutes: ||
| GK | 19 | Romain Salin |
| DF | 5 | Jefferson | 45' |
| MF | 25 | Radosav Petrović | 86' | 53' |
| MF | 90 | Miguel Luís |
| FW | 23 | Abdoulay Diaby | 83' |
| FW | 29 | Luiz Phellype |
| FW | 77 | Jovane Cabral |
| Manager: ||
| Marcel Keizer ||
| Man of the match Yacine Brahimi Assistant referees: Nuno Eiras Paulo Vieira Fourth official: Manuel Mota Video assistant referee: Tiago Martins Assistant video assistant referee: Pedro Mota | Match rules 90 minutes. Penalty shoot-out if scores still level. Seven named substitutes. Maximum of three substitutions. |
