Holders Torreense will host Benfica in the Portuguese Cup’s fourth round on 21–22 November. The second-division club won the trophy by beating Sporting in May but missed promotion. Sporting and Porto have home ties, while the accompanying last-16 draw keeps the three major clubs apart until the quarter-finals.
Torreense, the second-division club from Torres Vedras in Portugal, will begin its Portuguese Cup defence at home to Benfica. The fourth-round draw in Oeiras brought the holders up against the competition’s most successful club. Benfica have won the trophy 26 times, although their last success came in the 2016/17 season. The fourth-round matches are scheduled for 21 and 22 November, with clubs taking part in European competitions joining the cup at this stage.[1], [2]
Torreense enter that tie from sixteenth place in the second division. Their cup success six months earlier had made them the first club from below Portugal’s top flight to win the competition. On 24 May they beat Sporting 2-1 after extra time at the National Stadium in Oeiras. The final was played between the two legs of a promotion playoff against Casa Pia. Torreense lost that playoff and stayed in the second division, while the cup brought them their first European campaign.[1]
Sporting will host fourth-division União da Serra, while Porto are at home to Paredes, leaders of a third-division group. Vitória de Guimarães and Braga were paired in another fourth-round tie. The same draw also set the last-16 route: Benfica, Porto and Sporting cannot meet one another before the quarter-finals. Those last-16 matches are scheduled for 15–17 December, with every possible pairing still depending on the fourth-round results.[1]
If Benfica advance, they will host the winner of the second-division meeting between AVS and Tondela. Porto would travel to União de Leiria or Leça, while Sporting would receive Atlético or Casa Pia. Olhanense, the only district-league club left, were drawn away to top-flight Gil Vicente after eliminating Portel and Oliveira do Hospital.[1]
