GENEVA (AP) — Porto holding off Benfica in the Portuguese title race is a rivalry between André Villas-Boas and his one-time mentor José Mourinho.
Porto has been revived in two years with Villas-Boas as president of his boyhood club that he coached to a league, cup and Europa League treble at age 33 in 2011.
With four rounds left, Porto is seven points clear of Mourinho’s Benfica which is unbeaten in the domestic league yet could finish third, because Sporting is one point back with a game extra to play.
Portugal is among the intriguing title races in Europe outside the big five soccer nations heading into the final stretch.
Scotland has a tight three-way race with long-time leader Hearts seeking a first title for 66 years ahead of Rangers and Celtic.
The remarkable run of newly promoted Thun could on Saturday seal a first Swiss title in the club’s 128-year history.
The Turkish league looks set to elude Fenerbahce for a 12th straight year if Galatasaray avoids defeat in their Istanbul derby game on Sunday. Galatasaray leads by four points with four rounds left.
Villas-Boas and Mourinho
The precocious ability of André Villas-Boas saw him join José Mourinho’s coaching staff at age 24 at Porto — winning the UEFA Cup and Champions League in back-to-back seasons — then follow him to Chelsea and Inter Milan.
Villas-Boas took his own coaching career on a similar path — Porto, then Chelsea, later Tottenham, Zenit St. Petersburg and Marseille, until 2021.
At 46, he was elected president of the club closest to his heart.
“Mine at Porto is a story that I’m proud of,” Villas-Boas told Italian daily Gazzetta dello Sport this week. “I want to keep on giving more satisfaction to the fans.”
His second season looks set to bring Porto’s first league title in four years, despite Benfica hiring Mourinho in September. That was three weeks after Mourinho left Fenerbahce following an exit from the Champions League qualifying playoffs — at Benfica.
“We are competing for the championship but we respect each other,” Villas-Boas told Gazzetta. “Mourinho has taught me a lot and sometimes we exchange messages.”
Run to the title
Porto needs six points from its four-game run-in, none against a main rival. It starts on Sunday at Estrela da Amadora.
Edging an unbeaten Benfica to be champion would not even be a first. That’s how Porto topped the table in 1978 when losing just one game.
Key to Porto’s season have been a 41-year-old defender and a 37-year-old coach.
Thiago Silva returned in midseason from Brazil to extend his storied career at the club he first left in 2005.
Francesco Farioli has solidly rebuilt his reputation after coaching Ajax to a stunning collapse in the Dutch league last year, blowing a nine-point lead over PSV Eindhoven in the last five rounds.
“I want him to win more than I won with Porto,” Villas-Boas said of Farioli. “He’s the coach that will take us into the future.”
Salzburg’s decline
Like Porto, Salzburg played at the Club World Cup last June where both qualified through consistent results in past seasons of the Champions League that disguised a relative decline in domestic soccer.
Salzburg’s 10-year run of Austrian titles ended in 2023 and the Red Bull-backed club has now lost both home games to start the championship playoff section that is led by Sturm Graz.
Hearts-stopping in Scotland
It’s been shaping to be an historic season for Heart of Midlothian. Only Glasgow giants Celtic and Rangers have won the Scottish league for the past 40 seasons, and Hearts last brought the title to Edinburgh in 1960.
Hearts has led the table after each of its games, except for a few days in August. But it is tight at the top entering the split of the 12-team division, with the top six now playing each other one more time.
Hearts leads Rangers by one point and Celtic by three. Rangers is the form team but must visit Hearts and Celtic for back-to-back games from May 4-10. Hearts goes to Celtic on the last day, May 16.
The Old Firm duopoly started in 1986 with a heartbreaker on the last day. Hearts had been top for months and still was with 10 minutes left in the season until conceding two late goals at Dundee. That let Celtic win the title on goal difference — a historical weight Hearts is anxious to lift.
Thun’s time has come
A 14-point lead with five rounds left — Thun is almost there as a most unlikely Swiss champion.
Coach Mauro Lustrinelli’s team hosts Lugano on Saturday needing a win to confirm a first title for the club formed in 1898. Second-placed St. Gallen plays on Sunday at Young Boys.
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