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
2006–07 S.L. Benfica season against Porto on 1 April. The visitors scored first through Pepe in the 41st minute, but Benfica equalized in the 83rd minute with an own-goal from Lucho González. Santos attributed the draw to Porto goalkeeper Helton's performance, saying, "Helton made three or four great saves. We were better in the second half and we deserved to win." On the following Thursday, Benfica visited the Olímpic de Montjuïc to face Espanyol. The Spaniards pushed hard from early on and scored first through Raúl Tamudo in the 15th minute; shortly after the half-hour mark, Albert Riera made it 2–0 and in the