FC Porto Nuno Valente and Derlei, Porto won the 2002–03 Primeira Liga with relative comfort, finishing 11 points ahead of second-placed Benfica. The club also won the UEFA Cup, defeating Celtic in a dramatic extra-time final, to win its second major European title. Mourinho then secured an unprecedented treble for Porto by winning the Taça de Portugal final against his previous club. The 2003–04 season began with another 1–0 win over União de Leiria, which gave the club its 13th Supertaça. Weeks later, Porto failed to repeat this result in the 2003 UEFA Super Cup, losing 1–0 to Milan. The departure of
1996–97 S.L. Benfica season week later; on the opening game of the Primeira Liga, Benfica drops two points against S.C. Braga in a home draw. Still, with two convincing wins in early September, Benfica reached top of the table, together with four other teams. With the second leg of the Supercup next, Benfica received Porto on 18 September. However, the contend quickly became an unbalanced one, with Porto scoring five goals to none, as Preud'Homme prevented an even darker outcome The team was not disturbed by this defeat, and continued racking up consecutive league wins, even achieving a two-point lead over the second place;