Porto will host Sporting Lisbon at Estadio do Dragao on Wednesday, 21 April 2026, needing to overturn a 1-0 first-leg defeat if they are to reach the Taça de Portugal final. Sporting won the first leg on 3 March at Estadio Jose Alvalade, and the winner will meet either Torreense or Fafe in the showpiece match.
Porto know the terrain well. They have reached five of the previous seven Taça de Portugal finals and won four of those occasions, but last season they were knocked out by Moreirense in the fourth round. This campaign has been more convincing: Porto beat Celoricense 4-0, Sintrense 3-0 and Famalicao 4-1 before edging Benfica in the quarter-finals.
That run comes with a warning attached. Porto have only two defeats in their last 15 matches in all competitions, yet one of them came last Thursday at Nottingham Forest, which ended their Europa League campaign after a draw in the first leg at the Dragao. They answered on Sunday with a 2-0 league win over Tondela, secured by second-half goals from Gabri Veiga and Victor Froholdt, and moved seven points clear at the top of the Primeira Liga. Porto have won 20 of their 25 home matches in all competitions this season, a record that makes the return leg at home feel more like an opportunity than a rescue act.
Sporting arrive with their own issues. They lost 2-1 to Benfica in the Derby de Lisboa on Sunday after Luis Suarez was denied a chance to put them in front from the penalty spot, Andreas Schjelderup scored from the spot for Benfica, Hidemasa Morita equalised in the 72nd minute, and Rafa Silva struck a stoppage-time winner. That left Sporting with one win in their last four matches in all competitions, after they were also eliminated from the Champions League by Arsenal in the quarter-finals when they failed to overturn a first-leg deficit.
Even so, Rui Borges' side have made away trips difficult for everyone else. Sporting are unbeaten in 29 domestic away matches, and their run at Estadio do Dragao is three matches without defeat. Their most recent visit there ended in a 1-1 draw, and they also came through the first leg with a clean, narrow advantage. Sporting won the Taça de Portugal last season and are chasing a 19th Portuguese Cup crown, which gives this second leg a sharp edge: Porto are trying to keep a double in reach for the first time since 2021-22, while Sporting are trying to prove their cup hold is not fading.
The tension is not hard to see. Porto have the home form and the history, but Sporting have the lead and the away record, and the margin between a final and another disappointment is one goal. That is what makes this Portugal vs tie feel bigger than a semi-final should: for one side, the route to another cup final is open; for the other, the season's best chance to add silverware is hanging on a 90-minute recovery.