Torreense enjoyed an incredible 2025/26 season, finishing third in Liga Portugal 2 and then beating Sporting to win the Taça de Portugal. Just how special was last season for the club and its supporters?
Last season was incredible because, of course, winning the Portuguese Cup was beyond the imagination of Torreense fans.
We were a second division team with obviously no expectation of beating a big club like Sporting, and to do it at Jamor, the national stadium, was pretty incredible.
Last season was
surely the best season ever for our club.
Despite winning the cup, Torreense narrowly missed out on promotion after losing to Casa Pia in the play-offs. Was there disappointment that the club couldn’t complete an extraordinary season by reaching the top flight?
The play-off was tough because the first match was played on the Tuesday or Wednesday before the Portuguese Cup final, and the second leg was then played the following week.
Obviously, the minds of the players, coaches and fans were all on the Portuguese Cup final.
I think a lot of people thought maybe we could get a good enough result in the first leg, then go to the cup final, probably lose to Sporting by four or five goals, and afterwards come back to the play-off and try to get the job done.
But the first leg really showed that the players were thinking about the Portuguese Cup final. We drew at home against Casa Pia and understood it was going to be very, very difficult to beat them.
It became even tougher because we then won the Portuguese Cup! I think most people still finished the season very, very happy because winning the Portuguese Cup, reaching the Super Cup and qualifying for the Europa League is probably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Promotion can come in one or two years. We’ll get there, so there’s no stress.
Luís Tralhão has remained in charge after guiding Torreense to that historic cup success. What have supporters made of the job he’s done, and what type of football does he want his team to play?
Tralhão is kind of a hero in our city because he won the national league with our under-23 team, then he was called up to the first team and won the Portuguese Cup.
I think it’s quite unique for a coach to do that with Torreense.
We really like him because he’s a very nice guy. He talks a lot about the game and is very factual about what happens in matches, whether we win or lose. I think he has a lot of credit with us and we hope he stays.
I don’t necessarily think he’s one of those managers who is looking to have a big career in the first division. He’s quite simple in the way he works. I don’t think he even has an agent, so he’s not exactly the Jorge Mendes type!
We’re happy to have him and I think he can help us take some good steps in the Europa League.
I really hope he can manage us throughout all of the Europa League games because I think he’s very good in the toughest matches. We’re having a lot of difficulties in the league right now, but in the big games Tralhão has been spectacular.
This season has been much tougher domestically, with Torreense currently 15th in Liga Portugal 2 after seven matches. Why do you think the team has struggled to carry last season’s momentum into the league campaign?
One of the reasons the league has become so complicated is that the other teams now look at us as one of the big teams. Everybody wants to beat Torreense and everybody wants to beat the team that caused such a surprise last season.
Last year we were the underdogs. Now we’re one of the big dogs in the league.
That’s very difficult for our team because we’re much more prepared to play on the counterattack and we’re very good defensively.
It becomes much tougher for us when we have to dominate possession and create opportunities against teams who sit back.
I also think the club understands that when we can get points in European competition, there is money coming into the club. All of the players want to have their best performances in the Europa League matches, which is understandable.
I think until January we’ll be very focused on the Europa League, then afterwards we’ll try to make sure we keep our place in the second division.
This isn’t really the season for us to get promoted.
The Europa League has been a completely different story, with Torreense winning 2-1 away at Lillestrøm in their first-ever European match. How significant was that result and has it changed expectations for what Torreense can achieve in this competition?
To win in Norway was just… wow.
I think the whole world really got to see Torreense when we beat Lillestrøm.
For me, it was almost even crazier than winning the Portuguese Cup. The cup was an incredible moment for us, but then you reach the Europa League, go away for your first match and play Lillestrøm, a first division team who had won the Norwegian league.
They’re at a totally different level to us.
But in the first half we really went at them. We scored two goals and could have scored more. We were very strong on the counterattack and they had a lot of problems dealing with the speed of our wingers.
I think I suffered more watching the Lillestrøm match than the Portuguese Cup final because I wasn’t expecting us to get a win in our first Europa League match!
Before the competition, we were thinking: “Eight matches in Europe, that’ll be nice. We don’t have to worry about the results.”
Winning in Norway changed our mood.
Now we think: “Well, we beat Lillestrøm, so why can’t we get some points against Sunderland, Ferencváros or Celtic?”
Then we’ll try to win against the Armenian team we’re facing and maybe even reach the play-offs.
Torreense are a second-tier side facing a Premier League club, but last season’s victory over Sporting showed they’re capable of producing major upsets. Will supporters genuinely believe Sunderland can be beaten?
Yes, I think a lot of us believe we can beat Sunderland.
Of course, I know Sunderland very well from watching them in the Premier League. I understand that even if Sunderland come with a reserve team or eleven players from the bench, they’ll still be a lot stronger than us.
But we’ve been very, very competitive against stronger teams.
If Sunderland give us a chance, and if Sunderland are a little bit sleepy in the first half, I think it’s possible for us to get a point.
At 38, captain Stopira scored the winning penalty against Sporting in the cup final and remains part of the squad this season. How important is his experience and leadership to this Torreense team?
Stopira was fundamental for us last season.
He’s a very experienced player and physically he was very good last year. When we had Stopira, everything seemed to go well. He was also like a teacher to the other centre-backs.
We were very happy to see him go to the World Cup too. Even though he didn’t play any minutes, he had the time of his life and that was quite astonishing to see.
This season I think things are getting tougher for him and I’m not sure whether he’ll be in the starting eleven against Sunderland.
We have other options at centre-back too, including a young Mauritania international who spent his formative years in France, and Volnei, a Brazilian who has played in Portugal’s first division and is also very strong.
Those three are rotating and we play with two centre-backs, so I don’t know whether Stopira will play.
But for sure he’s one of our heroes. He scored the decisive goal in the Portuguese Cup final, so we really love him.
Even if this is his last season playing, I hope he gets the opportunity to help the team with a goal or another decisive moment during these Europa League matches.
Because Torreense’s own stadium doesn’t meet the requirements for the Europa League, the match will be played in Leiria. Is there any disappointment among supporters that such a historic European home fixture can’t take place in Torres Vedras?
Of course, it’s a disappointment not to play in our city.
This afternoon I was sitting in a cafe near my house in the centre of town and we were talking about exactly that.
Imagine having something like 5,000 Sunderland fans in the city tonight and tomorrow. It would be a real party for everybody, and of course more local people would be tempted to go to the stadium and watch the match too.
But we have what is basically a non-league standard stadium, so it’s impossible to have the game here.
Leiria is about an hour away by car and the tickets are also expensive. I actually think we might have more Sunderland fans than Torreense fans in the stadium.
That’s disappointing, of course.
We’d love to have a nice stadium where we could welcome Sunderland fans and supporters of other European teams here because the city would be ready for that kind of party.
For us, being in Europe is a huge celebration, so we’d love to have that kind of atmosphere and movement in our own city.
Finally, where do you think Torreense can cause Sunderland problems, where are they most vulnerable themselves, and what is your score prediction?
Torreense can cause Sunderland problems if Sunderland are sleeping in the first half.
I think Sunderland will have to cooperate a little bit for us to have a real chance of getting something from the game!
We’re very strong on the counterattack. Our wingers are usually very, very quick and I think that’s where we can potentially cause Sunderland some problems.
But generally Sunderland are much, much stronger and the intensity of the game will be completely different.
Even if Torreense score first, Sunderland will always have the chance to get back into the game because the intensity of Premier League football is totally different to the Portuguese first division, never mind the second division where we’re playing.
My score prediction? I really hope we can get a 0-0 draw. If we’re perfect defensively, maybe it can happen, and I’d love us to get one point.
But if I’m being realistic about Torreense against Sunderland, I think Sunderland probably score two or three goals and it will be very tough for us.
So 3-0 to Sunderland is probably the result that makes the most sense from where I’m sitting on Wednesday.
But when the match starts tomorrow, I’ll definitely be hoping for a draw!
