FC Porto beat Benfica 93-86 at Dragão Arena in the second round of the Liga Betclic after trailing by 13 points in the first half. Benfica went to the dressing rooms 50-45 ahead, having opened with the first five points and put Porto under real pressure early. Porto answered after the break and finished with a comeback that never looked likely at half-time.
Porto's second-half surge
The game changed in the third quarter. Porto won it 32-27 and moved ahead 69-68 with one minute left in the period, then opened a seven-point lead at 86-79 with five minutes remaining. That stretch was driven by better perimeter shooting and stronger rebounding, which is how Porto flipped a derby that Benfica had controlled for long spells.
Xeyrius Williams stood out in the turnaround, while the bench brought the energy Porto needed once the game started to tilt. Miguel Queiroz also hit from practically midcourt with three seconds left in the first half, a shot that kept Porto within range before the restart.
What the result says about both sides
Porto came into the derby in strong form, with four wins in their last five matches, and their league record remains perfect at 8 wins, 0 draws and 0 losses. They also had the edge in the previous league meeting, a 3-1 win over Benfica, so this was not a one-off response from a team short on confidence.
Benfica arrived with four straight league wins of their own and sat fourth in the table with 16 points from 7 matches, but the collapse after building a 13-point lead will sting. James Slatter's unsportsmanlike foul with 1 minute and 40 seconds to go summed up how Porto kept its grip once the final minutes became scrappy.
The key fact is simple enough: Benfica had the start they wanted, Porto owned the middle of the game, and the home side left Dragão Arena with a 93-86 win that was shaped by the third quarter and the last five minutes.
Written by Sam Whitfield with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
