Benfica defeated Gil Vicente 2-0 this Saturday, in a match of the 30th round of football’s I Liga in which the ‘eagles’ went through ‘chills’, but unblocked in the final part, boosted by ‘trumps’ on coming from the bank.
Chiquinho opened the scoring in the 73rd minute and Grimaldo added volume to the result in the 86th minute, in a penalty that penalized a deflection by Rúben Fernandes’ hand from a header by Petar Musa, another player launched in the final section.
With this triumph, the ‘incarnates’, who added the second successive success after two defeats, strengthen the championship lead and started to add 77 points, six more than Sporting de Braga and seven more than FC Porto, which only plays this Sunday.
Gil Vicente, who added the seventh straight game without winning and lost the unbeaten home run they had since last November, remains in 14th place, with the same 31 points, which still doesn’t guarantee retention.
To bolster their respective accounts on the table, both teams needed to win, but it was the Lisbon team, who appeared with Florentino instead of Chiquinho, that forced a more urgent entry.
Gonçalo Ramos gave the first warning to the Gilistas after just five minutes, with a strong shot deflected by goalkeeper Andrew Silva in a move that served as an ‘alarm clock’ for Minho’s team.
Daniel Sousa’s team, which came up with three changes in the ‘eleven’, with the additions of Gabriel, Pedro Tiba and Boselli, gradually lost ‘respect’ to Benfica and showed arguments in the outputs for the counter-attack, aimed at the goal of Vlachodimos.
The Greek goalkeeper even had to work in the back in the 19th minute to stop two initiatives from Gil Vicente, first in a beautiful shot from Boselli, after individual work, and shortly afterwards in an attempted direct corner kick from Murilo.
This brutality from the north, solid in defense and quick in counter-attacks, sounded ‘alarm’ at Benfica, who, despite some difficulties in the final definition, went back to pressing the ‘accelerator’ and pushing from half an hour the ‘cocks’ on the ropes.
In that period, Gonçalo Ramos, after a good move by Rafa, even introduced the ball into the opponent’s goal, but the move was declared invalid for offside.
Still, the decision failed to dampen accusations from Roger Schmidt, who had David Neres as one of the most non-conformists, and after seeing another goal for offside, they began to put the other goalkeeper Andrew Silva in front.
The Brazilian goalkeeper was then decisive by dragging the exciting ‘zero’ to half time and, with some excellent saves, stopped another initiative from Neres and another from Florentino.
Half-time fared better for Gil Vicente, who came forward with more conviction, against an upcoming Benfica and without too much rotation, threatening the locals three times, in shots from Fran Navarro, Boselli and Pedro Tiba, with the last Vlachodimos forced one of the night defenses.
In this first phase of the second half, Benfica was a ‘shadow’ of what it had shown in the first phase, with a predictable football and a lack of solutions to stop the rise of the locals.
However, in the 72nd minute, the eagles coach Roger Schmidt went to the bench to look for a trump card to unlock the challenge, with Chiquinho being ‘deadly’ in the next minute and opening the scoring. deflecting a cross with his head from Aursnes, on the right.
The Minho team, who had not conceded a goal in their stadium for three games, felt the blow of the opponent too much and lost focus and concentration after a fatal mistake in the 86th minute, when Rúben Fernandes cut a header from Petar. Musa with his hand, in a bid revealed by VAR footage.
In the penalty kick, the Spaniard Grimaldo did not falter and signed the 2-0 that condemned the challenge, with a result that could have been even greater were it not for a shot by Petar Musa, already on 90, being rebounded by the crossbar.
Source: DN
