A lukewarm display and two spectacular goals summed up Benfica’s win over Maccabi Haifa (2-0) this Tuesday at Estádio da Luz in the first round of the Champions League group stage. In the other game in Group H, PSG defeated Juventus (2-1, with a double by Mbappé). It was the fifth time that Benfica opened the Champions League with a win. That means that Roger Schmidt’s team is 100% victorious at the time, with ten wins in ten games, something that had only happened once in history (1982-83).
With just one substitution in the starting XI – Bah instead of Gilberto on the right side of the defense – and three Champions League debuts – António Silva, Bah and Enzo Fernández – Benfica took charge of the game, but somehow way contradicted by the Israeli team, more interested in ball swapping than construction. Rafa and Neres sometimes managed to accelerate, but never without resistance.
With the wings controlled by an interesting organization from Maccabi – the 11 holders are playing for the 1st time in the competition – Roger Schmidt’s side only managed to get a shot on goal in the 39th minute. Rafa finally had space in the central zone, went to the area, took out an opponent and shot for the defense of Cohen.
João Mário had to get on the pitch to make passes, but Benfica’s creative midfielder didn’t always realize that and forced Gonçalo Ramos to leave the area many (too often).
For the 40 minutes, Otamendi hit the nail on the head. The captain fell badly after a ball dispute and had to be assisted, forcing Brooks (reinforcement from last market day) to warm up, but the Argentinian came back into the game and proved to be one of the best on the pitch and with a partner who was with you suits. If there were any doubts about the maturity of António Silva, 18, they were undone yesterday.
Before rest a threat from Daniel Sundgren to remind the men of Luz that the Israelis not only took space from Benfica’s attackers, but also managed to reach the target of Vlachodimos.
Watch Grimaldo and score
In the second half a more modest Benfica had to come and this time the German coach opted for a substitution at half time, without changing the schedule. It was exchange for exchange. Gonçalo Ramos remained in the dressing room with a yellow card and was replaced by Musa. The teams were still positioning when Maccabi took advantage of a mistake by Florentino to cause chills. Frantzdy Pierrot almost scored. It was worth it to Vlachodimos to force himself firmly.
Then Grimaldo let go of the genius that lives in his left foot and Benfica got the goal. First he was in the big move of the team with a happy ending. Grimaldo had the space to cross over to Rafa, who bounced off the goal with the nose of his boot. All at a breakneck pace. With no time to digest the 1-0, the left-back lifted the stadium up with a work of art in the form of a goal that could very well qualify for the Puskas Prize (awarded the best goal of the season).
Benfica led by two goals slower and started playing in 4x3x3, with Rafa on the left and João Mário on the right. And if the fans might have liked the spectacularity of some individual moves, with runs, back-heels and tunnels to opponents, the coach asked for concentration not to concede goals, something that happened in the last two games of the League. . Maybe that’s why he took both off the field, thinking about the duel with Famalicão (Saturday). And maybe that’s why, instead of debuting Draxler (as predicted and announced the day before), he bet on Aursnes.
Schmidt had said in the preview press conference that in order to reach the knockout stage (round of 16), it was necessary to win both matches with Maccabi and to fight for points in the duels with PSG and Juventus. pThe goal has already been achieved: three points and shared the lead of the group with PSG, who had another great evening at the Parc des Princes from Mbappe, scoring both goals. Leaving Juventus without points before receiving Benfica (14th).
Source: DN
