The Brazilian Neres left the bench this Saturday to be the asset for Benfica’s win against Estrela da Amadora (2-0), with two assists to resolve the First Football League second round game.
The Brazilian came on in the 69th minute to replace João Mário, was mischievous and assisted the also substitute Tengstedt, who came on in the 78th minute and scored the first goal in the 79th minute, and Rafa, who had already seen the Reds triumph in stoppage time convict , at the 90th minute +3.
The national champion thus adds the first three points to the championshipafter the defeat suffered in the debut (3-2), in the stronghold of Boavista, while the amateurs, back to the elite of Portuguese football, still won without a point.
Roger Schmidt surprised everyone and everything by putting young Samuel Soares in Benfica’s goal, to the detriment of Vlachodimos, who didn’t even appear on the scoresheet after an unlucky game against Boavista, as well as introducing Aursnes in left defence.
Reinforcement Jurásek was injured in the first round and the German coach chose to adapt the Norwegian, instead of putting Ristic, who remained on the bench. On offense, João Mário started, as did Arthur Cabral, who made his debut due to Musa’s suspension.
On the side of Estrela da Amadora, Sérgio Vieira made four changes to the ‘eleven’ he lost to Vitória de Guimarães (1-0), in the first round, with Omurwa replacing the suspended Miguel Lopes, as well as Hevertton Santos, Léo Cordeiro and Léo Jabá, used by the coach for the positions of Jean Felipe, Aloísio and Régis Ndo respectively.
As expected, Benfica took full control of the events of the match, but ran into a well-organized and competent Estrela da Amadora in the opening minutes, with only Rafa firing on Gaspar’s leg and João Neves wide, in a head-on position, on the 16 minutes before the only three-color threat in the first half, by Ronald.
From the 30th minute, Benfica attacked and practically did not leave the last third of the field, with many opportunities to score: within a minute Bah missed the header in great position, Arthur Cabral did not have the discernment to take a shot fend off ‘ Precious ‘ by Bruno Brígido and João Mário shot just wide.
The Luz stands were getting impatient with so many chances missed and the break came with a ‘zero’, not before Di María put Bruno Brígido’s great reflexes to the test by ‘dribbling’ a rival, sending him into the middle. dodge and shoot for a massive defense.
The yellowish João Neves gave way to year-old Florentino on the restart, giving Kökçü more freedom and raising the lines, in a complementary stage where the incarnate dominance was even more powerful, against a solid Estrela.
João Reis was injured in a bid with Arthur Cabral shortly before the referee Gustavo Correia signaled a penalty in favor of Estrela da Amadora, but it ended correctly reversed when Florentino’s arm leaned against his body.
Benfica responded through Kökçü, but the shot, which had the seal of a goal, was intercepted, followed by another duel between Bruno Brígido and Di María, which the Brazilian goalkeeper won again, with another huge defense, in the 66th minute.
Neres came on at the age of 69 and completely changed the game, creating new blatant chances for the Eagles, including another try from Kökçü, again for a good intervention from Bruno Brígido, and in one of the clearest situations, with Arthur Cabral shot incompletely for the defense and, on reloading, Di María missed the target.
However, after several tries and at a time of near ‘desperation’, Tengstedt entered, who finally showed himself to the Benfica supporters by deciding a tough game, on 79, served by Neres, touching in the same way as what Ramos did.
Already in stoppage time, Neres went back to ‘doing his thing’ by breaking Estrela da Amadora’s defensive barrier and serving Rafa as a tray, condemning the encounter without any problems. Until the end, the Portuguese still had time to hit the post.
Source: DN
