Winner: Vangelis Pavlidis
After promising a lot in pre-season, Pavlidis didn't have an easy start at Benfica. Until January, the Greek striker had just nine goals to his name. That all changed with a hat-trick against Barcelona and, four months later in 2025, he is Benfica's main offensive figure.
This Sunday, he confirmed that status with another hat-trick, this time in the big Liga Portugal derby against FC Porto. By becoming the first Benfica player to score three goals in a single game at home to the Dragons, Pavlidis all but ended the Blue and Whites' hopes of winning the title. No player had scored a hat-trick at home to Porto in the league since Pizzi in May 2011, then in the Pacos de Ferreira shirt.
A true odyssey for Pavlidis at Benfica, which the Greek hero hopes will end in success - with the title - and not in tragedy.
Loser: Boavista
Quo vadis, Boavista? This is the question that everyone associated with the axadrezado emblem is asking themselves. One of the five national champions in Portugal, the proud club from Porto seems to be the first to be condemned to relegation and without a glimmer of hope for the near future.
This Sunday, 24 hours before they faced Rio Ave, Boavista announced the departure of Lito Vidigal, with Jorge Couto taking over as interim manager for the remaining seven matches. Bottom of the table on 15 points, 11 points from salvation and eight points from the play-offs, the fall of a historic team to League 2 seems to be a question of when.
Lito Vidigal was the second coach of the season (one win and five defeats), succeeding the Italian Cristiano Bacci (two wins, six draws and 13 defeats), who has now made history in Moreira de Cónegos by not losing any of his first five games (two wins and three draws).
His arrival coincided with a flurry of reinforcements - Vaclík, Van Ginkel, and Layvin Kurzawa being the most high-profile - following the resolution of the FIFA cases that prevented signings in the two market windows, but not even that managed to turn the team around.
Winner: PSG
"I'm convinced that next year we'll be stronger". Luis Enrique's words at his first press conference after Kylian Mbappé's departure from PSG sparked controversy. The Parisian team was preparing to lose one of the best players in the world at zero cost for the second year in a row - after Neymar and Messi left the previous summer.
But what is certain is that the Spanish coach has delivered. With quality youngsters - Willian Pacho, Nuno Mendes, Joao Neves, Zaïre-Emery, Bradley Barcola or Desire Doue - and players already proven on the biggest stages - Marquinhos, Hakimi, Vitinha, Fabian Ruiz, Kvaratskhelia or Dembele - PSG has become one of the most fearsome teams in European football.
This weekend, they became French champions for the 13th time and have everything it takes to launch a strong bid for the Champions League, having already knocked out Brest and Liverpool, with Aston Villa up next. In fact, they're looking stronger than ever.
Loser: Jose Mourinho
Jose Mourinho is one of the great managers in world football. If you think otherwise, he's the last manager to lead a team outside the top five leagues of European football to a Champions League win - Porto in 2004. However, at the age of 62, the man who presented himself as a brilliant coach seems to be in freefall.
Fenerbahce's big dream to win a title that has eluded them for the last 10 years looks likely to remain a dream for another season. Three points behind leaders Galatasaray (with an inferior head-to-head after two meetings) and eliminated from the Europa League by Rangers (on penalties), they then crashed out of the Turkish Cup on Wednesday against their great rivals.
And if that wasn't enough, he added another dash of controversy to a spell in Turkey characterised by more noise off the pitch - especially on social media.
After a tense end to the game, he went up to Galatasaray manager Okan Buruk and... pinched his nose. Fenerbahce claim that the rival coach is constantly provoking them, but it wasn't a pretty sight for what was once considered one of the best in the world. And even the weekend's victory over Trabzonspor didn't erase the memory.
Winner: Fulham
In England, where Mourinho has also shone, there's another Portuguese on the rise. With a job less exuberant than Nuno Espirito Santo's at Nottingham Forest, Marco Silva managed to make Fulham only the second team to beat Liverpool, the likely Premier League champions, this season.
A triumph at Craven Cottage with a supersonic turnaround in the scoreline in 14 minutes thanks to Ryan Sessegnon, Alex Iwobi and Rodrigo Muniz. It won't matter much for Liverpool's accounts (they're 11 points clear of Arsenal), but for Fulham, it was three points that attested to Silva's excellent work.
Eighth place (which will probably guarantee them Conference League qualification), ahead of Brighton, Bournemouth, Crystal Palace, Manchester United or Tottenham, would be the icing on the cake for a project that began in the Championship and which, since coming to the Premier League, has never been in danger of relegation.
Loser: Southampton
A relegation that was confirmed was for Southampton. With seven games to go, the Saints already know that they will return to the second tier of English football at the end of the season.
And as if the feeling of relegation wasn't enough, the now-sacked Ivan Juric's side are in danger of entering the record books as the worst-ever Premier League side. For now, they have secured their place as the team to be relegated most quickly, with seven games to go, one round ahead of Derby County and Ipswich.
With 10 points from 31 games, Southampton have not equalled Derby's points tally yet, who have the worst record in Premier League history (11 points in 2007/08). It's been a season to forget for the team from the south of England following their promotion to the top flight, which they secured by beating Leeds in the play-offs last season.
