S.L. Benfica Portugal against José Mourinho's Porto. They dedicated the trophy to Miklós Fehér, who had died in January 2004. In the following year, Benfica won the league title, eleven years after the previous one, and the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira. After that and until 2009, when Benfica won its first Taça da Liga (thus becoming the first club to win all major domestic competitions), they did not win any trophies and finished fourth in the 2007–08 league. In Europe, Benfica had three consecutive appearances in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League, with their best result being a quarter-final stage
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;