1985–86 S.L. Benfica season lapped the first round of the league in first place, after recovering five points since September. After an event-less January, in which Benfica retained their one-point lead over Sporting; in February, Benfica faced Porto again, this time for the round of 16 of the Taça de Portugal, winning 2–1. Meanwhile, in the Primeira Divisão, they added another point in their lead over their closest competitors. In March, Benfica was eliminated of the Cup Winners' Cup by Dukla Prague, while in the Portuguese Cup, they thrashed Sporting by 5–0 in the quarter-finals. They finished the month with a replay of the
FC Porto a conflict between the technical staff and president Américo de Sá, which ended with the resignation of Pedroto and his replacement by Hermann Stessl. In December 1981, Porto overcame Benfica to win the inaugural staging of the Portuguese Super Cup, the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira. Pedroto returned in April 1982 by the hand of the club's newly elected president Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa, who had resigned as director of football, two years before, in solidarity with the coach. The previous month, Porto fell again in the Cup Winners' Cup quarter-finals against one of the eventual finalists, but needed only