Classic match: Shankly’s mighty Liverpool felled by Vitória FC in Setúbal

They now languish at the bottom of the football pyramid. Many even fear they may never come back from the bottom of the pit. If there’s a poignant drama in Portuguese football culture, it certainly is the shadow cast over the present and future of what was, once, one of Portugal´s greatest sides. Vitória FC have not only been title contenders and multiple Cup winners. They left their mark as well on the European nights. 

For a short period, they became a much-feared side to visit even for mighty sides from the continent’s top leagues. Liverpool supporters know it all too well. They too were victims of the glorious days of the Bonfim stadium and the finest ever generation of the Sadinos in what was one of the greatest ever European matches played in Portuguese soil. A story of what a giantkiller should be all about. 

One of Portugal’s great football cities

Setúbal is a special place for Portuguese football. Now the city has long been far away from elite football, but the region has been home to some of the greatest ever players and managers that graced the game. Many played in the working-class south belt of Lisbon, between the cities of Almada to Montijo, players as iconic as Luís Figo, Fernando Chalana, Manuel Fernandes, Manuel Bento, Carlos Manuel and so on. Yet, no side from that area ever matched the finest of Vitória FC, the club from the district capital and one of the pillars of Portuguese football.

Vitória FC is, of course, also José Mourinho’s football club, a passion he inherited from his family, having been born there. A bond strengthened by the fact that his father and great inspirational figure, Félix Mourinho, was also goalkeeper for the club’s most renowned side. A time when Vitória would look eye to eye when facing the Portuguese greats, even regularly besting FC Porto. Even after attaining fame and fortune, Mourinho often takes a trip to the Bonfim stadium when taking time out to visit Portugal.

The club had already showed its worth during the late 1920s and early 1930s Campeonato de Portugal and regional tournaments. They took part in the league’s first edition in 1934 and Setúbal became a pivotal point for Portuguese football, for decades a region that matched Porto and Lisbon in relevance, a role that has been occupied by Braga over recent decades.

Golden decade

The club enjoyed their stint of glory from the mid-1960s, a period that lasted almost a decade up until the April 1974 revolution and had a deep impact on the region’s football culture and identity. In 1965 they won their first Portuguese Cup, surprisingly beating Eusébio’s Benfica in the final, the same side who came out victors when they met in the 1962 final. It was the first of four consecutive Cup finals attended. Vitória lost the 1966 and 1968 finals to Sporting Braga and FC Porto but beat Académica in 1967. Fernando Vaz was Vitória’s manager, a disciple of the famed Cândido de Oliveira, a visionary who prompted his players to play free flowing attacking football.

As happens today and was customary back then, some of Setúbal’s greatest players of that time ended up moving to the Lisbon giants, with Jaime Graça being the most notable of the bunch. Yet, Setúbal had proved to be an endless pit of talent and as star players moved, others sprung from the youth setups. Vaz nurtured talent like few could and so local products such as Jacinto João, Fernando Tomé and, most of all, Vitor Baptista, became first-team regulars early in their careers. Those Cup wins brought European football to Bonfim for the first time but, on both occasions, Setúbal were beaten early on, the second attempt against an ever-growing Bayern Munich side that already boasted the likes of Gerd Muller and Franz Beckenbauer in the side.

In 1969, however, their league performance allowed the club to register in the Intercity Fairs Cup, a competition that UEFA never recognised officially as the precursor of the UEFA Cup, which it was. It remains a non-official European clash but everyone at the time granted them the same honours as they did to the European Cup or the Cup Winners Cup.

Shankly’s champions come to town

Enthusiasm was palpable. In the first round the Sadinos comfortably beat Rapid Bucharest but then the draw pitted them against Liverpool. The Reds had already been crowned League winners under the helm of Bill Shankly and started the competition among the favourites to take the trophy home. The winners would eventually be English, only not Liverpool.

Shankly had at his disposal many iconic players in the club’s history such as Ian St. John, Ian Callaghan, Tommy Smith, Ron Yates or the great Tommy Lawrence in goal and were a well-respected side. League winners a couple of seasons prior, Setúbal had never faced such a strong opponent in continental cups. But if the scousers, who routed Dundalk in the previous round, believed they would have it easy they were in for a surprise.

Bonfim was packed full on the night of the 12th of November. By then Vaz had been replaced by the only man capable of beating his legacy: José Maria Pedroto. The manager famed for Porto’s revival a decade onwards started to show at Setúbal what he was all about. He kept the former manager’s attacking flair, but greatly improved their defensive record, making Vitória a very hard team to beat. 

As expected for the local supporters, used to seeing their side play at the best of their abilities, his men dominated procedures early on and took the game to Liverpool from the early stages, with Shankly’s side unable to create any real danger to Dinis Vital’s goal, the goalkeeper that replaced Mourinho’s father in the starting eleven after he signed for Belenenses. Young maverick Vitor Baptista was not available for the night, but Pedroto still counted on the likes of José Maria, Jacinto João and Fernando Tomé to impose his style.

Despite Setúbal controlling the run of play, the only goal of the night came on the 40th minute when a long-range shot from Tomé deflected off Yates and crashed into Lawrence’s net leaving the away goalkeeper helpless. Vitória pressed in the second half for a second goal that never arrived and, in the end, Shankly knew things could have turned out much worse. He, like all Liverpool supporters, counted on Anfield Road to turn things around but Pedroto had installed in his players a sense of self-confidence that allowed them to survive the roar of the Kop. Liverpool won the return leg 3-2, with Roger Hunt scoring in the last minute.

Away goals triumph

It was the first edition that the away goal rule was implemented so many believed the game was due to be followed by extra-time. It took the Belgium referee Alfred Delcourte to explain one by one to the home side squad that the game had effectively ended and Vitória would progress to the following round. The crowd at the Kop couldn’t believe it either, staying for an extra half an hour after the final whistle hoping the match would be restarted. For Setúbal it was a sweet defeat as they progressed to the last sixteen for the first time in their history. With FC Porto and Vitória SC beaten, they remained Portugal’s sole representative but in the following round they would eventually be beaten by Hertha Berlin.

More epic European nights

It was the first glorious European night in Setúbal´s history but it wouldn’t be the last. Over the following seasons they kept on surprising much more renowned opponents, although never going as high as the last eight of the Intecity Fairs Cup. In 1970/71 they beat Lausanne, Hadjuk Split and Anderlecht before falling at Don Revie’s Leeds United with Vitor Baptista scoring both at Bonfim and Elland Road, two iconic performances right before he signed for Benfica. In 1971/72 Setúbal overcame Nimes and Spartak Moscow, then losing to UTAD Arad from Romania, and in the following season, still with Pedroto on the helm, they overcame Valencia, Fiorentina and Inter Milan only to fall to a late Tottenham Hotspur goal. That moment marked the end of the club’s golden age. 

Revolution brings industrial and football decline in Setúbal

After the April revolution, Pedroto moved north, first to Boavista and then to his beloved FC Porto, and the nationalisation of many of the canning and fishing industries that supported the club economically proved to be Setúbal’s doom. An ironic end for a side known to be a working-class club who, like with all the south belt clubs, suffered most with the arrival of a new democratic regime that paved the way for a new economic boost around the textile industries up north.

Setúbal would remain a well-respected club for the following decades, winning the Portuguese Cup and League Cup as recently as the 2000s, but economic issues have since condemned the club to oblivion. They now compete at the bottom of the local football pyramid and many fear the club will be no more in the near future. The past cannot be reversed through, and for everyone who experienced it first hand, Setubal’s epic European nights will never be forgotten.

By Miguel Lourenço Pereria, author of “Bring Me That Horizon – A Journey to the Soul of Portuguese Football”.