The 2008 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira was the 30th edition of the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira, the annual Portuguese football season-opening match contested by the winners of the previous season's top league and cup competitions (or cup runner-up in case the league- and cup-winning club is the same).
Rui Patrício would save Lucho González's penalty and Sporting held on to capture the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira.
[7] Porto qualified for their third consecutive Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira by clinching the Primeira Liga title with five games to spare.
[10][11] In Gameweek 25, Porto defeated Estrela da Amadora, 6–0 at the Estádio do Dragão to clinch the Primeira Liga for the 23rd time.
[13][14][15][16] Sporting's 5–3 semi-final victory over Benfica saw the club come back from 2–0 down with goals from Liédson, Derlei, Simon Vukčević and two from Yannick Djaló.
[18] Xistra was assisted by José Braga of Portalegre and Mário Dionísio of Setúbal, while the fourth official was André Gralha of Santarém.
[21] The last meeting between these sides prior to this match was the 2008 Taça de Portugal Final, where Sporting defeated Porto, 2–0.
Rodrigo Tiuí scored two goals in extra time to clinch Sporting the Taça de Portugal.
Sporting were missing several key players like Liédson, Pedro Silva and Simon Vukčević, while Porto were without influential talisman Ricardo Quaresma.
Pedro Silva was suspended after being red-carded in Sporting's last pre-season game of the summer against Dutch side PSV.
[23] Paulo Bento's squad selection saw him include four new signings in Daniel Carriço, Fábio Rochemback, Hélder Postiga and Marco Caneira.
Following the break, Porto started stronger and began to create more in attack after Ernesto Farías gave away to Hulk.
Porto's hunt for their first goal, saw them awarded a penalty by Carlos Xistra following a clumsy challenge by Marco Caneira.