The Battle of Lisbon: José Mourinho, Eusébio, Sporting and Benfica
Plus: What's the secret sauce that makes Portugal (pop. 11 million) so competitive on the global stage?
This week on the podcast, our guest is journalist David Novo from Portugal’s Record newspaper. He joins to help us preview the Dérbi de Lisboa, as Benfica host Sporting CP in a battle for bragging rights in the Portuguese capital. Together with Porto — from the town of the same name that’s further north along the Atlantic coast — they make up the Big Three clubs in this nation of under 11 million people that punches far above its weight on the global football stage.
In this episode, we got into how exactly Portugal (and these clubs in particular) produce so many fantastic players. We traced some of the history of this rivalry, including the crucial intervention of the legendary Eusébio, who turned the tide after years of Sporting dominance to deliver Benfica into a new era in the 1960s. We also talked over the return of José Mourinho to Portuguese football, with the Special One now coaching Benfica after all his years of massive success with Porto and across Europe.
Finally, David offered some intel on where to eat and drink if you’re going to the Estádio da Luz — where this one will be played on Friday — or the nearby Estádio José Alvalade, Sporting’s home base:
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A few more matches worth your time this weekend…
The 2026 World Cup Draw
Fri @ 12pm ET, 5pm UK
You’ll have to put up with some unsavory scenes, no doubt about it, but we all wanna know who’s playing whom next summer.
ASTON VILLA vs ARSENAL
Sat @ 7:30am ET, 12:30pm UK
Two teams in fine form, and with a whole lot of recent history.
Villa brushed off a couple of sketchy Brighton goals and stormed back to win 4-3 in midweek. Now they’re third in the league. They’ve also got a decent record against Arsenal over the last couple of years, taking seven of the last 12 points available in these head-to-heads. You know that Unai Emery enjoyed beating his successor as Arsenal manager twice in the 2023/24 season, which was enough to deny Mikel Arteta’s side the title at the end of that campaign.
The top-of-the-table Gunners will travel to Villa Park knowing a serious test is in store. Plus, Ollie Watkins — heavily linked to Arsenal last season — just crackled back to life with two goals in midweek after a miserable barren spell. The injuries are biting the visitors, with a crisis developing at center back, so the Arsenal will need to dig deep here in what should be a formidable atmosphere.
TOTTENHAM vs BRENTFORD
Sat @ 10am ET, 3pm UK
It’s the Thomas Frank derby, though many Tottenham fans seem increasingly eager to give the man back. Spurs have not won a football match since November 4, and they’ve still won just once at home all season in the league. Brentford have been up and down, but they gave Tottenham’s arch rivals Arsenal a decent game in midweek. They might just smell their ex-manager’s blood in the water here.
Or, in the same window, you can watch SUNDERLAND continue a difficult extended roadtrip as they travel to MANCHESTER CITY after a strong showing against Liverpool at Anfield on Wednesday.
LEEDS UNITED vs LIVERPOOL
Sat @ 12:30pm ET, 5:30pm UK
Having dismantled Chelsea in midweek at Elland Road, Leeds now welcome Liverpool with reasonable belief they can stage a repeat. The visitors are the walking wounded at the moment, scrounging out a draw with Sunderland on Wednesday after another poor performance that easily could have earned them a third-straight defeat at Anfield in all competitions. Arne Slot has his work cut out for him here.
Alternately, INTER vs COMO is an intriguing clash of third and fifth in Serie A that kicks off half an hour earlier. The visitors are looking like proper upstarts under manager Cesc Fàbregas, running with the big dogs. There’s also REAL BETIS vs BARCELONA at the very same time as Leeds-Liverpool. That’s first against fifth in La Liga.
MESSI vs MÜLLER IN THE MLS CUP FINAL
Sat @ 2:30pm ET, 7:30pm UK
It’s like the 2014 World Cup final, except a whole lot bigger. INTER MIAMI face VANCOUVER in Major League Soccer’s showpiece match, and each side will contain literal legends of the world’s game. Luis Suárez has been missing for Miami, and many will tell you they’ve been better without him as some guy named Lionel Messi has taken up a central role. Suárez should be back for this one, even if he won’t start, and certainly Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba and Rodrigo De Paul will be involved.
And then there’s Thomas Müller on the other side, the 13-time German champion, two-time Champions League winner, and defeater of Messi and Argentina in that 2014 World Cup finale. All these big shots might be deep into their 30s at this point, but you’ve got to say this is MLS at its best.
Messi Madness in New York City
A blind man came to see Lionel Messi. He had his white-and-red cane in one hand, his other arm locked in a companion’s as they walked along the black cement of the concourse amongst the myriad concessions stands at halftime. Was she a fan, and he just came along? Or was he here to let the oceanic roar of the expectant New York crowd wash over him — to b…
FULHAM vs CRYSTAL PALACE
Sun @ 11:30am ET, 4:30pm UK
It’s a London derby at Craven Cottage, just one of those games you get a feeling about.
Fulham started the season extremely poorly but have started to put a thing or two together. They put four past Manchester City on Wednesday and that wasn’t enough to win, a decent signal that there could be goals here even if Palace’s defensive record is outstanding: with just 11 goals conceded in 14 matches, they’re behind only Arsenal as the league’s best without the ball.
NAPOLI vs JUVENTUS
Sun @ 2:45pm ET, 7:45pm UK
It’s not been a vintage season for Juventus thus far, as the Old Lady have sunk to seventh after a couple of defeats in October and some draws in November. Still, they’re just five points back from joint league-leaders AC Milan and Napoli, the latter of whom will host them at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona this weekend. The defending champions have had some tumultuous moments already this season under the Vesuvius-adjacent Antonio Conte, but they’re pretty much on-track to retain their crown, and days like this will be crucial to that.