Sporting Vs Gil Vicente: Benfica's four changes keep 2-point race alive
sporting vs gil vicente opened the final round with Sporting and Benfica separated by 2 points, and both clubs chasing second place on May 16, 2026. Sporting hosted Gil Vicente at Estádio José Alvalade while Benfica went to Estoril, with both matches kicking off at 20h30.
Alvalade and Amoreira
Sporting arrived with two straight wins, beating V. Guimarães 5-1 and Rio Ave 1-4 after a five-match run without victory. Gil Vicente came in on a thinner run of form, with only one win in its previous five matches before the trip to Alvalade.
That set the tone for a final day in which neither side could afford to drift. Sporting had gone five matches without a win before the recent turnaround, while Gil Vicente’s sequence included a 2-1 win over Casa Pia, draws with Tondela and Rio Ave, and losses to V. Guimarães and Arouca.
Benfica’s side also moved before kickoff. José Mourinho made four changes to the starting lineup for the trip to Estoril, bringing in Alex Bah, Nico Otamendi, Richard Ríos and Vangelis Pavlidis while Amar Dedic, António Silva, Leandro Barreiro and Franjo Ivanovic dropped out.
Mourinho's Benfica reshape
The Benfica XI at the Amoreira featured Anatoliy Trubin, Alex Bah, Tomás Araújo, Nico Otamendi, Samuel Dahl, Richard Ríos, Fredrik Aursnes, Gianluca Prestianni, Rafa Silva, Andreas Schjelderup and Vangelis Pavlidis. Estoril lined up with Joel Robles, Ricard Sánchez, Ferro, Felix Bacher, Gonçalo Costa, Pizzi, Xeca, João Carvalho, Jordan Holsgrove, Yanis Begraoui and André Lacximicant.
Pizzi started in midfield for Estoril on the day the Portuguese international ended his career. The home side’s lineup also gave Ian Cathro a veteran spine to work with against a Benfica team still trying to force the table into its final shape.
Pizzi at Estoril
Sporting’s official social media posted its lineup with the caption ??/?? ⏳ #SCPGVFC, a sign that the club treated the last match as the final step in the league run. Benfica’s alterations kept the pressure on the title race’s second-place fight, because the margin between the rivals was still only 2 points when the day began.
For supporters, the stakes were straightforward: second place and Champions League qualification were on the line on the same night, across two different grounds. The split in the table meant Sporting could not relax at Alvalade, and Benfica’s four changes showed Mourinho was not leaving the game plan untouched in Estoril.
