Benfica and Porto cancel each other out in the head-to-head confrontation: the tie-breakers

The classic between Benfica and Porto ended the encounters between the Eagles and Dragons in the 2022/23 league season.

The calculations done, the balance is one win per side with the minimum margin. Three points for Benfica for a 1-0 win over Dragao and three points for Porto for a 2-1 win on Friday.

Although the Blues and the Whites scored twice away from home, this factor, which was sometimes decisive as a tie-breaker, is no longer present in the league, similar to what has already been applied, for example, in European competitions.

This means that in a hypothetical scenario of equal scheduling between the Reds, Blues and Whites, it would not be a head-to-head confrontation to decide who was in front of whom.

What Article 17 of the Regulations for Competitions Organized by Liga Portugal says:

1.

a) The number of points achieved by the tied clubs in the match or matches played among themselves.

b) A greater difference between the number of goals scored and the number of goals conceded by tied clubs in matches played against each other.

Subparagraphs “a” and “b” do not apply to the potential tiebreaker between Benfica and Porto, as they pass directly to the following subparagraphs.

c) a greater difference between the number of goals scored and the number of goals conceded by clubs in matches played throughout the tournament;

d) a greater number of victories in the entire competition;

e) More goals scored in the entire competition.

In the unlikely event that the above criteria do not break the tie, the next point (2) continues, which begins with deliberation on holding a match on a neutral ground to be decided by the league if only two teams are tied. If that match comes to the end of normal time in a tie, there will be a two-part extension of 15 minutes each, after which, if possible, a tie-break on penalties.

The league is also studying the possibility of a tie between more than two clubs and the following solutions:

A one-round competition will be held, on a neutral field, to find the winner. If at the end of this competition no winner has been found and two or more teams are tied, a tiebreaker will be decided in accordance with the criteria set forth in Paragraph 1 of this article.