Thanks to its victory at home at the expense of Santa Clara on Monday evening (3-0), FC Porto regained a six-point lead over Sporting Portugal at the top of the Spanish League. But the club coached by Sergio Conceicao has essentially capitalized on his success to equal the record for the longest unbeaten streak in the Portuguese league, with 56 games (45 wins, 11 draws). Benfica had previously performed between 1976 and 1978.
This series is also among the most admired at the European level. Although there is still a long way to go for the dragons to set the all-time record.
Dutchman Marco van Basten, Milan’s top scorer between 1987 and 1995, with 124 league goals. (P. Boutroux/team)
In the five major European Championships, the unbeaten record was held by AC Milan’s Fabio Capello, who took over from Arrigo Sacchi in 1991. Between May 26, 1991 and March 21, 1993 (0-1 defeat by Parma), the Rossoneri go 58 games. Unbeaten in the Italian Serie A, the key, with two titles for the Italian champions, in 1992 and 1993, and will follow them third the following year.
The Robin Ribery duo carried them to the top of their game, the Munich residents also winning the Champions League in 2013 against Borussia Dortmund. (Eh Monique/Team)
Between November 2012 and April 2014, Bayern played 53 consecutive unbeaten matches in the Bundesliga. The series was interrupted due to a setback at the Augsburg stadium (0-1). In the 2012-2013 season, the men coached by Jupp Heynckes were irresistible: they achieved a historic triple in the Champions League, in particular winning the German Bundesliga by 25 points over Dortmund. The following year, Pep Guardiola replaced Heynckes on the bench and the Bavarian club again won the Bundesliga. “Only” 19 points, ahead of Dortmund.
“Invincible” at Arsenal in 2003-2004 with Frenchman Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira and Robert Perez. (B. Phablet/Team)
The indomitable streak that Arsene Wenger achieved between 2003 and 2004 is undoubtedly the most famous in this rating. And for good reason, it allows the indomitables to complete the 2003-04 season without losing a single game. His performance has been unparalleled in the Premier League ever since. In total, the Londoners remained undefeated in 49 matches between May 2003 and October 2004, finally losing at Manchester United (0-2).
The 2017-2018 season saw Barcelona bid farewell to legend Andres Iniesta, who then joined Vissel Kobe, where he still plays. (A Garcia/Sports Press)
Between April 2017 and May 2018, Barcelona managed a 43-match unbeaten streak in La Liga. The title that Real Madrid lost in the spring of 2017, then Neymar’s departure from Paris Saint-Germain did not encourage optimism. But the Catalans are carrying out a historic exercise in the 2017-2018 season. Ernesto Valverde’s men blundered by narrowly ending the season undefeated, losing on the penultimate day in an epic showdown against Levante (defeat 5-4). They won the championship by 14 points from Atletico Madrid.
At the end of the 2015-2016 season, the Parisians won the Coupe de France by defeating Olympique de Marseille (4-2). (Notchi/Sports Press)
In France, it is not surprising that Paris Saint-Germain holds the record for the longest unbeaten streak, with 36 matches unbeaten in Ligue 1 between March 2015 and February 2016. This began in the wake of a stormy defeat at Bordeaux (3-2, 15 March 2015), after which Zlatan Ibrahimovic will declare: “This country does not deserve Paris Saint-Germain.” This was then followed by a thriving streak in which the Parisians remarkably won the champion title in 2015, before seeing their momentum stall on the grounds of Lyon (2-1 defeat on February 27).
If FC Porto have only two games left to match AC Milan, their only rival in the major leagues, they are still very far from the continental record. The latter is owned by Romanian club Steaua Bucharest, who ran 104 games unbeaten between 1986 and 1989. Conceicao and his men still have to do.
