For the 39th Portuguese Cup final

Starting at 8:45 pm on Wednesday, April 9, Benfica will play the first leg of the Portuguese Cup semi-finals against Tirsense at the Estádio Cidade de Barcelos, the home of the Campeonato de Portugal side to welcome the eagles.

The clash will bring out the true spirit of the Portuguese Cup, pitting a team from the Portuguese Top flight against another from the lower tiers, in this case from the Campeonato de Portugal, Portugal's 4th tier: Tirsense are in 8th place in Serie A with 32 points from 25 matches.

At stake in this tie is qualification for the final of the Portuguese Cup, a competition in which Benfica is the club with the most appearances in the decisive match, 38. On 26 of these occasions, the Eagles have lifted the trophy, which also makes them the club with the most titles. Tirsense, on the other hand, are aiming to make history, having never reached the final game of this competition.

In fact, this is only the second time that the northerners have reached the semi-finals, and in the previous one they also faced Benfica. It was in 1970/71 that the two teams met at the same stage of the competition, with the Reds going on to the final after a double triumph: 1-3 at the Estádio Abel Alves de Figueiredo and 5-1 at the Estádio da Luz.

When it comes to clashes between the Eagles and the Jesuits in the Portuguese Cup, there have been four more measures of strength, with the Glorioso coming out on top in all of them.

The last match between the teams in the main competition took place just over 29 years ago (December 1, 1995), when Benfica beat Tirsense 0-2 in the 4th round of the 1995/96 edition of the Portuguese Cup, which the Eagles would go on to win.

Looking at the overall table of matches, considering the league and cup, there have been 22 games, with the eagles winning 20 and drawing 2, with 66 goals scored and 9 conceded, against opponents who have been to the highest level of Portuguese football on 8 occasions.

In this year's edition, the two teams had different routes to the semi-finals. In Benfica's case, it left behind (0-2), Estrela da Amadora (7-0), Farense (1-3) and SC Braga (1-0) – 13 goals scored, being the top scoring team, and 1 conceded.

Tirsense, meanwhile, beat Vieira (2-0), Caldas (1-2), Brito SC (1-0), Rebordosa (1-0) and O Elvas (0-2), in a run that didn't include any clashes with Liga Betclic teams.

In individual terms, the eagles' top scorers are Di María and Arthur Cabral, both with 3 goals in this edition of the competition. As for those most used by the Reds in the competition, they are goalkeeper Samuel Soares and central defender António Silva, both with 360 minutes (total).