1978–79 S.L. Benfica season three losses in a month, severely hindered the title race. Nevertheless, despite dropping out of the UEFA Cup at the hands of Borussia Mönchengladbach, domestically, Benfica won all league matches for three months, reaching the first place in the league. A home draw with Porto stopped their winning run, but it was a loss to Marítimo that compromised their title race. That loss followed another with Braga for the Taça de Portugal. Despite dropping points again in March, Benfica kept an entertaining battle with Porto, which came to an end when they drew again in match-day 29. Two consecutive seasons
2005–06 S.L. Benfica season losing the game. Benfica ended the season in third place, missing out on the title and an automatic place in the 2006–07 UEFA Champions League. Despite winning both games against Porto, the closest Benfica had come from them was on the 18 and 19 match-days, with only three points. Benfica closed the season 12 points behind the leader and five from Sporting. Of the Big Three, Benfica conceded the most goals (29) and scored the second-highest number of goals (51), with the worst goal-average (+22). Koeman wanted to fulfil his contract with Benfica, but after negotiations with the management and