The night Vitória humiliated Minho rivals Braga | OneFootball

On Sunday evening Vitória host Braga in what is sure to be another fiercely fought-out local derby.

Rivalries don’t get any bigger in Portugal than the Minho derby. They may not have won much over the years and yes, the region, like any other in the land, is mostly populated by Big Three supporters. But after over a century of clashes, the duels between Vitória SC and SC Braga have come to represent much more than football.

The Archbishops are now living their golden era but twenty-five years ago it was Vitória who many tipped would eventually become a serious competitor to the top sides of the league. Few moments encapsulate that feeling better than when the Guimarães side thrashed their northern rivals on an iconic sweaty September night back in 1998.

Zidane and Porto riding high

Supporters were still talking about the magic of the 1998 World Cup, those glorious moments of Zidane’s France or Ronaldo’s Brazil when the football league kicked off for another fascinating season. FC Porto were beginning a new era with Fernando Santos in charge, and they would eventually make history months in the future by becoming the first-ever Portuguese side to win five consecutive league titles, something nobody has equalled since. Benfica were going through the hardships of their Vietnam era while Sporting were in a shambles, few believing the long drought of honours was about to end. It was a year when Boavista finally cemented their contender status by finishing runners-up for the first time since the mid-1970s, with a Champions League ticket as a reward.

Jostling for football relevance

What many expected, though, was that the two Minho giants would eventually step up and present a challenge for the top sides. Both Vitor Oliveira’s Braga and Filipovic’s Vitória were seen as natural contenders for a UEFA spot when the season kicked off. Especially the Guimarães side, who had finished third the previous season, above Sporting, while Braga had just played a Portuguese Cup final, under the helm of the Spanish manager Alberto Pazos who then left the club.

A Bola’s match report of Vitória 5-1 Braga

Expectations were also high because Portuguese football had changed over the past decade. Once the power hub had been centralised around the Lisbon-Setúbal axis, with many of the first division sides coming from the region. The Minho arrived late in the game since in the first league editions no side north of Porto was ever considered deemed worthy of a place in the elite. Only with the expanded format of the following years did the regional champion finally get the chance to compete against the nation’s best. Despite Braga being the bigger city, Vitória won the honour.

Portuguese football accompanies economic shift northwards

As the championship model was finally revamped to include promotion and several tiers, both Vitória and Braga became staples in the top flight, but they were almost always the only teams from the northern side of Portugal. Everything changed in the late 1970s and onwards as the Carnation Revolution created a shock movement in the country’s economy. The nationalisation of factories and shipyards during the tumultuous revolutionary period led to serious losses and the industrialised South Bank region of the River Tagus never fully recovered. Entering the EEC in 1986 was the last nail in the coffin for several local industries from the Setúbal area, with limitations to exports causing a rise in unemployment and poverty.

The great beneficiaries were companies in the northern textile industry, once a very local and minor sector that quickly expanded with the opportunity of exploring the new borders offered by the European project. The factories around the Ave River valley that stretched from Porto up to Barcelos, just north of Braga, offered quality products at cheap prices and quickly became one of Portugal’s leading business segments. Conditions were appalling, though, with child labour being used well into the new millennium as well as low paycheques and several companies who declared bankruptcy only for their owners, usually enjoying a lavish lifestyle, to reappear months later in places like Brazil while escaping Portuguese justice.

Vitória player ratings as per A Bola

Emergence of a regional hotbed

It wasn’t the prettiest of realities but it had an impact on the game as well since the money made from local factories turned into sponsorship for football clubs who, until then, were only a residual name in Portuguese football. From the 1980s up to the 1990s, more than a dozen sides from the region made their debut in the elite. Clubs such as Gil Vicente, Penafiel, Rio Ave, Varzim, Felgueiras, Paços de Ferreira, Desportivo das Aves, Tirsense, Riopele, Fafe who would soon be followed by the likes of Vizela, Moreirense and Trofense in the 21st century.

Pivoting the change of the guard were, of course, Vitória and Braga. Despite already established first-division sides, they were never seen as contenders for a European spot up until the 1980s and ranked well below the likes of Vitória FC, CUF, Atlético or Académica in historical relevance. Money brought better players and with them came results.

Ambitious Machado

Vitória knew how to surf the wave better than their rivals particularly because of their chairman, Pimenta Machado, a self-made man who wanted, in many ways, to emulate the raucous Pinto da Costa presidential style and granted the club the conditions needed to establish themselves as a regular top six side for many seasons. His great ambition, however, was to bring silverware, but despite a Super Cup win in 1988, Vitória lacked a trophy to boast while Braga had already enjoyed a brief moment of glory when they won their first Portuguese Cup in 1967.

Still, it was not enough for two sides who hoped for more and when the 1998/99 season kickstarted. The expectation was that, eventually, one of them would succeed. That made their regional rivalry, which had always been strong, even more intense, and bitter and with the season in its infancy, in the fourth round, the two sides met in the Dom Afonso Henriques for a first showdown.

Filipovic, a former Benfica forward who had become famous as a coach while guiding Salgueiros to their European dream, picked Pedro Espinha, Alexandre, José Carlos, Arley and Quim Berto in defence while going for Geraldo, Sodestrom, Djurkovic, Paiva, Vitor Paneira and forward Gilmar in attack. Oliveira, regarded years after as the king of promotions – the award for best manager of the second tier is named after him after he sadly passed away with a heart failure in 2020 – went for Morais over Quim (a late Portuguese international and Benfica keeper), as well as Odair, José Nuno Azevedo, Idalécio and Lino in behind. Formoso, Castanheira, Mozer, Gamboa, Jordão and Elpidio Silva – later a league champion with Boavista – followed.

Two starting elevens full of highly experienced players, many of whom spent the majority of their careers on both sides and who understood very well the importance for supporters of the fixture, even if it was early in the season. Few could even imagine the outcome when the match kicked off with both sides immediately producing chances in the opponents’ box.

The Primeira Liga standings early in the 1998/99 season

Gilmar’s quickfire brace

Playing in front of their fanatical home crowd, Vitória soon took control, and in the 17th minute Gilmar broke the deadlock. The Brazilian was one of the most skilful forwards playing in the league at the time, scoring more than fifty goals throughout five seasons in Guimarães before signing for Boavista. What few expected was that, just a few seconds later, taking advantage of a crass defensive miscalculation, the Brazilian scored again.

It was a harsh punishment for the visitors, and when the match concluded its first half, many believed that while Vitória had the upper hand, anything could happen after the break. Instead, Braga were on the receiving end of a historic humiliation. In the first minute after the resumption, veteran winger Vitor Paneira added a third with a touch of class to beat a helpless Morais. Soderstrom then netted a fourth with a low-range kick that became a speciality for the Swede, who would later be signed by Porto. Then, in the 70th minute, a clear João Nuno Azevedo foul in the box allowed Gilmar to complete the hat-trick from the spot.

Late consolation

The Braga defender was sent off, and the game was put to rest with Vitória playing easy balls while the visitors had long decided it was no use chasing shadows. They got a feeble reward when Alexandre scored an unfortunate own goal, but even then there was nothing to celebrate as Braga had come out of the night without scoring a single goal from open play. It was one of the toughest and most vividly remembered wins by the home team against their historic rivals but the season would prove to be disappointing for both sides in the end.

Braga player ratings as per A Bola

Vitória only finished seventh in the league table, three points away from a European spot and behind recently promoted União de Leiria. Braga did worse, ending in ninth, eight points behind the Guimarães side. Neither manager finished the season in charge of the team. Filipovic was sacked before the year’s end and replaced by Quinito while Oliveira gave way to Carlos Manuel who then got himself also sacked with Manuel Cajuda finishing the season. Cajuda would build an excellent side at Braga in the years that followed while Quinito would be gone before the end of the next season.

Boavista and Braga overtake Vitória

Boavista had already by then become the title contenders many hoped either of the Minho sides could become and while Vitória did finish runner-up in 2008, it was Braga eventually, upon the arrival of António Salvador as chairman, who became a contender thereafter.

The rivalry, however, is still alive and kicking these days and even with the Archbishops – a nickname owing to the deep connection of the city with the Catholic power structure within the Iberian peninsula – usually finishing higher in the table, nobody in Guimarães ever forgets that they also are capable of remarkable feats, like the night when they crowned themselves undisputed kings of the Minho.