Benfica defeated Sp. Braga 1-0 and the title of champion of the eagles is now a distance of two wins in the last three rounds, as FC Porto win the remaining four challenges. And if the dragons lose tomorrow in Arouca, they will be 7 points behind the red, with Roger Schmidt’s team only having one win (or three draws).
In Benfica’s eleven, Aursnes kept the right-back position, as Bah had not fully recovered, while Chiquinho partnered João Neves in midfield, with Florentino on the left bench. For the visitors, the big absentee was the injured Al Musrati.
Benfica started with a lot of pressure and made a good ball circulation against a Sp. Braga was very cautious and lost almost every game. Between the 16th and 18th minutes, the visitors earned two impressive cuts from Borja, leaving João Mário and Rafa mouthfuls respectively. And shortly afterwards, Matheus made a good save on David Neres’ shot.
In the first half hour, Sp. Braga was in complete disarray, reminiscent of entering December’s League Cup match in Alvalade: a super-martial team that produced nothing offensively. The only (big) difference is that Sporting was effective and made it 3-0 in the first 20 minutes, while the red and white did not score. Is it a psychological blockade of the Minho fighters in the stadiums of the big three? This season he lost twice 0-5 in Alvalade and was beaten 1-4 in Dragão and yesterday, despite being defeated by the narrowest margin, again left a pale picture, especially in the first half.
In the last fifteen minutes of the first half, Sp. Braga managed to breathe a little better and Benfica didn’t create any danger. Near the end of the first half, Bruma made a great lunge on the left and after the cross, Grimaldo made a suspicious tackle on Ricardo Horta, but Luís Godinho thought that was no reason for a penalty. Moreover, the few replays that BTV made available were not very enlightening.
Sp. Braga returned for the second half and Sequeira replaced the injured Borja. As for Benfica, they didn’t come back with that much pressure, while the visitors weren’t cooperating offensively, especially their best player, Ricardo Horta, a bit amorphous yesterday, perhaps intimidated by the whistle he got from the supporters. from the club for which he was so close to a transfer last summer.
Lacking creativity, the reds and whites resorted to the long pass with some exaggeration, until in the 61st minute, in the best goal chance to date, Gonçalo Ramos cleared the post, after a pass from Grimaldo that was half a goal. It was the typical move that resulted in a goal so often this season, with the same key players, but the young striker continues his cross in the desert and reaches the seventh game in a row without scoring.
At the age of 66, Pizzi replaced Iuri Medeiros and was cheered by the home fans. Interestingly enough, it was seconds after Benfica reached the goal when David Neres launched Rafa, who isolated himself against Matheus and did not forgive, and scored again 14 games later in the I Liga: the last goal was on October 29, at the reception to Desp. Keys. It should be noted that Rafa is getting on well with his former club, having scored his fifth goal against Sp. Braga.
Until the end, Rafa could have scored twice and Sp. Braga eventually had two dangerous approaches to the Eagles’ last redoubt, in a poisonous cross from Sequeira and a header from Banza. Two moves that do not question the fairness of Benfica’s victory, highlighting some high-level performances, namely those of David Neres (the great imbalance), João Neves (excellent in managing the game in midfield) and António Silva (the mainstay of the defense).
Source: DN
