With both teams able to claim the title with a win, a 1-1 draw suited neither, though it does keep things bubbling nicely into the final weekend of the 2024/25 season.
What an ending we could have as both sides currently sit on 79 points with Sporting atop the table on goal difference.
They take on fifth-placed Vitoria Guimaraes at the Estadio Jose Alvalade, whilst Benfica travel to fourth-placed Braga, and neither can afford a misstep or else they will concede the title in the most agonising way.
That Sporting are even in the conversation at this point - and in the box seat - should be considered a success in itself.
Ruben Amorim was going to be a tough act to follow
When Ruben Amorim left the club for Manchester United back in November, there was no doubt that a 'before and after' situation quickly emerged.
How could it not when the then 39-year-old had won 12 of his 13 games in all competitions in the 24/25 campaign?!
That gave Amorim an astonishing 92.3% win percentage in that portion of his final season at the club, and how Manchester United would love to have something close to that at this point.
His all-conquering team had scored a magnificent 47 goals in those games and conceded just 11, and after the first 11 matchdays of the league season, apart from the opening weekend, Sporting had led the table.
The manner of the wins as much as the victories themselves had everyone sitting up and taking notice too, not least Pep Guardiola and Manchester City, whom Amorim's side defeated 4-1 in the Champions League just six days before he took over at Old Trafford.
Viktor Gyokeres plundered a hat-trick in that game just a few days after hitting four against Estrela Amadora, and whether any new coach would also be able to get the same level of performance out of the Swede was also a genuine question that would get its answer in the following weeks.
Appointing Joao Pereira was a grave error but Rui Borges has saved the day
Before Rui Borges was handed managerial responsibility for the first team, the club experimented with Sporting's B team manager, Joao Pereira.
Two wins and four losses from his eight matches in charge as well as the feeling that something in Sporting's play was missing was enough for the hierarchy to determine that they'd made a grave error of judgment.
Further, Pereira's unsuccessful time in charge had allowed Benfica to leapfrog their biggest rival and take their position at the top of the table.
Coincidentally, Rui Borges' first game in charge was back at the club he had just left and whilst a 4-4 draw - which included a 95th-minute equaliser from Sporting's Trincao and another Gyokeres hat-trick - was a feast for the football connoisseur, it's unlikely that Borges took any satisfaction from it.
What it did do, however, is put everyone on notice that the swashbuckling manner in which Amorim's side had taken apart all and sundry would be returning.
It might've been a little rough around the edges to start, but once the head coach hit his stride, there was no stopping him.
So much so that, to date in all competitions, he has a more than acceptable win percentage of 69.6%.
What's more, from matchday 17 in the Primeira Liga until the draw at Benfica on matchday 33, Sporting have remained at the top of the table apart from on matchday 28 when drawing 1-1 against Braga.
Rui Borges must beat his former club to land the league title
With the footballing Gods decreeing that in order to win the title Rui Borges has to beat the side he left to join Sporting too, there's a beautiful narrative already being written ahead of the final game of the season.
It would be a huge disappointment to fall at the final hurdle, though 16 wins and seven draws in his 23 games in charge would suggest that it's going to take an unbelievable performance for Vitoria to spoil Sporting's title party.
That Borges remains unbeaten, scoring 50 goals in the process whilst conceding just 19, is a sure sign of a man able to carry on where Amorim left off.
Perhaps what's also important to realise is that in continuing the good work of the now Man United head coach, Borges will have cemented a place in the psyche of his players.
It's easy to suggest that anyone can come in and coach a winning team of course, but it didn't work out for Joao Pereira and there are countless other examples Europe-wide.
The players are responding to Borges because they can see and sense that he's made of the right stuff.
What remains to be seen is just how successful he and his team can become and whether they can all be kept together for at least one more season...
