Showing great ability since entering FC Porto's youth academy, Porto-born Gomes scored twice in his first-team debut against G.D. CUF, in 1974. Except for a brief La Liga stint with Sporting de Gijón, when most key players left the "Estádio das Antas" in support of director of football – later president – Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa, he was on all important moments of the rebirth of the club: the 20-year Primeira Liga drought end in the 1978–79 season, the first UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final against Juventus F.C. in 1984 and, while he missed the 1987 final of the European Cup against FC Bayern Munich after breaking a leg days before, he scored five times in the side's victorious campaign, including the important second against FC Dynamo Kyiv in the semi-finals; he recovered still in time to play in the European Supercup against AFC Ajax and the Intercontinental Cup against Peñarol, on both occasions captaining the winner and scoring the opening goal in the latter game for a 2–1 win.