You had to get ideas and your head to put them into practice on the bench, but this Saturday Benfica beat Gil Vicente 2-0 with goals from Chiquinho, who was not in the starting eleven, and from Grimaldo, from a penalty.
In a match in which the goalkeepers Andrés and Vlachodimos seemed destined to be the protagonists in the 0-0 draw, it was the arrival of the Portuguese midfielder who ended up changing the game: he entered in the 72nd minute, scoring with a header in the 73rd minute.
With this result, Benfica once again has a six-point advantage over SC Braga, the opponent for the next round, and seven, conditionally, over FC Porto. Gil Vicente maintains 31 points and 14th place.
Tonight, in Barcelos, Schmidt opted to make a single line-up change from the last game, joining Florentino -who took Chiquinho’s place- with João Neves in midfield. As for Gil Vicente, Fujimoto’s role as a substitute stands out, a Japanese player who until now had started in all the championship games.
Those in the stands had to wait until the 18th minute for their first real scoring opportunity, but Boselli’s finish after an exchange of spins on Grimaldo and Vlachodimos’ escape would have made the wait worthwhile. And, in the next minute, the direct corner attempt for a new save by Vlachodimos was not without interest either.
There Benfica woke up, scoring in the 22nd minute, through Gonçalo Ramos, but saw how Fábio Veríssimo immediately annulled the play: Rafa, who gave the assist, stood behind the offside Gilista defense.
Ten minutes later, same outcome, although with different protagonists. This time, Gonçalo Ramos assumed the role of assistant and Neres the shot, but the fatal flaw remained: the player who made the pass was out of the game.
With the score 0-0 at the break, neither Schmidt nor Daniel Sousa wanted to touch the 22 players on the pitch, but it was the Benfica coach who least liked what he saw, especially when Vlachodimos had to fly again to deny Gil Vicente’s great goal after Pedro Tiba’s shot. For this very reason, he abdicated João Mário and Neres to launch Guedes and Gilberto.
Daniel Sousa responded with new attacking legs: Fujimoto and Bilel replaced Tiba and Boselli. Schmidt returned to the bench: he took out Florentino and Ramos, and brought on Musa and Chiquinho. And he hit the nail on the head.
Aursnes crossed from the right and Chiquinho, forgotten above the penalty spot, finished off with his head towards Andrés’ goal.
Having scored the first goal, Benfica accelerated and ended up committing a penalty. Musa jumped with Rúben Fernandes, headed and the ball ended up deflected into the arm of the central defender. Grimaldo, who took charge of the score, made it 2-0.
From there, Schmidt wanted to close the door on surprises: he took out João Neves, launched Morato as a defensive midfielder and even saw, before the end, Musa hit the post when he was trying to pass a hat-trick to Andrew.
Once do Gil Vicente: Andrew, Carraça, Rúben Ferreira, Gabriel Pereira, Adrián Marín, aburkhania, Vítor Carvalho, Tiba, Murilo, Boselli and Fran Navarro
Benfica XI: Vlachodimos, Aursnes, António Silva, Otamendi, Grimaldo, Florentino, João Neves, Neres, João Mário, Rafa and Gonçalo Ramos
The match referee was Fábio Veríssimo, assisted by Pedro Martins and Hugo Marques. In the VAR was Hélder Malheiro.
Gil Vicente substitutes: Brian Araújo; Zé Carlos, Né Lopes, Henrique Gomes, Bilel, Roan Wilson, Kevin Medina, Fujimoto and Depú
Substitutes for Benfica: Samuel Soares; Gilberto, Bah, Lucas Veríssimo, Morato, Ristic, Chiquinho, Guedes and Musa
Source: TSF
