Benfica remain unstoppable and surpassed another “final” defeat in this I Liga on Saturday, beating V. Guimarães 5-1 in Luz to take their ninth consecutive win in the competition. The incarnates can now Sp. Braga-FC Porto this Sunday — the dragons will take the field 11 points behind the eagles and the arsenalists 13, although both have played a game less.
Rafa, recovered from the flu that had ruled him out of the last game with Marítimo, returned to the starting eleven and his arrival, in place of the penalized Aursnes, was the only change in that match – he joined David Neres in a fantastic duo specialized in open defences.
In the first shot of the game, Benfica reached the goal, in a move that began with a cross from David Neres, which continued into Rafa, who, with a rare header assist, placed the ball just in time for Gonçalo Ramos’s accurate header. It was the fifth header in the 24 that the striker has scored in official matches this season.
Shortly after, Benfica was very close to 2-0, but Rafa missed the hat-trick he tried to throw to Celton Biai, the goalkeeper who made his debut in this edition of the I Liga. V. Guimarães couldn’t do anything offensively and at 24″, Gonçalo Ramos tried to take advantage of an error by the Guimarães goalkeeper, but the long shot was very skewed when Celton Biai was not in goal.
It became 2-0 for the eagles and in the 26th minute André Amaro committed an indisputable penalty on Rafa, realized by João Mário. The difference in pace between the two teams was big and Otamendi “sniffed” the 3-0 with a header against the post. It should be noted that the Argentine central midfielder has not scored in the I Liga for more than 25 months, in particular since February 8, 2021, in a Benfica-Famalicão (2-0).
The 3-0 came on 36″ by João Mário, highlighted by a quick attacking move, with the final pass from Gonçalo Ramos. The midfielder has scored an impressive 23 goals this season, and if it’s true that 12 from penalties were 11 in outdoor games, proving the excellence of his season João Mário scored twice for the fifth time in 2022/23 and leads the list of top scorers in this I Liga, with 17 goals, one more than his colleague Gonçalo Ramos .
The first half was a true celebration for the Benfica players, with a mixture of red inspiration – with Rafa, João Mário, David Neres and Gonçalo Ramos at a very high level – and a total lack of inspiration from Minho. The 3-0 was a faithful reflection of what had happened in the first 45 minutes.
warmer second part
The second half was played at a much more leisurely pace: on the one hand, Benfica felt they shouldn’t speed up much as the game had settled; on the other hand Vitória de Guimarães also enjoyed this lukewarm tune as they were more interested in damage mitigation than targeting as this would open up spaces likely to be used by the Lisbonrs to increase their advantage .
But if Rafa accelerates, it can always get livelier. And it was after one of those supersonic runs from the striker that it was 4-0 at 70″ with Rafa throwing in João Mário, who tried to assist Gonçalo Ramos, while Dani Silva appeared to deflect into his own goal.
Soon after, Roger Schmidt put Morato, João Neves and Musa in place of Otamendi, Florentino (he was under threat of suspension) and Gonçalo Guedes.
V. Guimarães scored the goal of honor, by André Silva, but António Silva tied the final 5-1. And there was still time for the Benfica first-team debut of Cher Ndour, an 18-year-old Italian-Senegalese midfielder from the club’s formation.
Roger Schmidt’s eagles thus continue with an impressive record, adding 66 goals in the I Liga after 25 games, the best record by a Portuguese team since 2018-19, a hallmark that belongs to the eagles.
Source: DN
