Against the statistics and against the history of the Super Cup itself, which was dominated by the dragons (they won 21 of the 44 editions), Benfica today beat FC Porto (2-0) to take home the first trophy of the season the guard. Di María and Petar Musa scored the champion’s goals that saved Roger Schmidt’s face and gave the reds their 9th Super Cup in history, in a contested match (12 yellow cards and a red for Pepe), which ended with the send from Sérgio Conceicao.
Seven seconds after the game (!) there was a call to Municipal de Aveiro. Pure illusion of awesome. Galeno was millimeters away from hitting Vlachodimos’ goal, in a move that showed FC Porto’s very powerful entry into an intense start to the game and played with plenty of speed. At nine minutes, Galeno already had three dangerous shots on target for the champion who, orphaned by Gonçalo Ramos (signed for PSG the day before yesterday), entered the field with a very daring configuration and without playing with a starting striker. Roger Schmidt bet next to Kokçu on João Neves and on a trident with Di María, João Mário and Rafa.
Hard to see who was the most offensive reference, even from a mobile and dynamic attack perspective. It wasn’t until the 18th minute that João Mário aimed for Diogo Costa’s goal. Maybe because it was the start of the season, maybe because the ball was new (Puma), the target wasn’t calibrated yet and the scoring midfielder, who scored 17 goals last season, shot wide.
It lacked creativity to dismantle the defensive success of the Porto players. It wasn’t long before Rafa and Di María showed up… or understood how to get out of the web set up by Pepe and Marcano. It was through the diagonals of the Argentine world champion that the right-hand corridor began to pay off and Benfica tied the game. Not in effective scoring chances, but in the game played. It was an indicator for the second half.
Benfica wins the Super Cup pic.twitter.com/TPA9BByXN6
– Sport Cabin (@CabineSport) August 9, 2023
World champion decided
More was needed for the second half, even though it was the start of the season. If the start of the game was intense and well played, it turned into a fight and unrest for referee Luís Godinho, who ended the first half with seven yellow cards shown.
Schmidt was the epitome of tranquility. Introspective as usual, he hinted that he would change the team in the second half and made the change. The team returned from the locker room without João Mário and Ristic, but with Petar Musa and Jurásek. As a result of the schedule change, the red team came back stronger in response to the loss and began to interfere with Diogo Costa. In such a way that Di María defeated him in the 61st minute. A misplaced pass from Pepê launched the Reds on the attack and Kokçu assisted the Argentinian, who shot in an arc in his own way and beat the Blue and White goalkeeper (it didn’t look good in the photo).
With the champion leading the way, the stands on the red side finally awoke from the silence imposed by the blue wing. The match was interrupted due to the presence of flares and flares on the field.
Sérgio Conceição reacted immediately, but before Toni Martínez, Romário Baró and João Mário took their places, Benfica extended the score. Petar Musa received the ball from Rafa and defeated the most valuable goalkeeper in I Liga. Perhaps because it was an FC Porto version of last season and with the trauma of losing the title to the rival still to digest, the Porto team couldn’t undo the negative scenario. Until the end, Pepe was still expelled in a move unworthy of such an experienced player and Galeno finally shot on goal, but it didn’t count. The goal was preceded by a hand on the ball from Gonçalo Borges.
Sérgio Conceição was expelled from school and again protagonist of the negative. The FC Porto coach sat alone on the bench due to a one-month suspension suspended as a precaution, but was eventually expelled after a monumental tantrum in which he refused to leave the pitch until the referee went to the bench and explained that he really showed red card. It is a matter to give glory to the victors, dishonor to the vanquished!
Source: DN
