To the Europa league and beyond
Last Tuesday saw the advancement of Benfica into the Europa League’s Round of 16. While the first leg seemed pretty open and allowed for both teams to go into the second leg with almost a clean slate, save for a vital away goal, Benfica made sure to keep anythin else from happening. They took clear control of the game from the start and never really allowed Hertha to get a good grip or control on the game. The 12 shots on target to 5 can surely attest to that. Pablo Aimar’s goal in teh 25th minute would be the major boost but the real domination came in the second half. Oscar Cardozo scored his first goal of the night in the 48th minute and 11 minutes later saw Javi Garcia score, making it 3-0 and with all signs pointing to Benfica securing their passage to the next round. The final goal would be scored by Cardozo in the 62nd minute, capping off an impressive night for the Lisbon side. The next round of games will be played March 11th and March 18th. Benfica already know their opponent will be Marseille, so best of luck to the boys!
Saturday they were back in action against Leixoes. Another game won by the impressive scoreline of 4-0. It was the almost normal line up, save for a few absences like Pablo Aimar, Javi Garcia, and Cesar Peixoto, who would eventually come on for Javier Saviola. 3 of the 4 goals would come from winger Angel Di Maria and it is no wonder there are still rumors cropping up of him being offered bids in the summer (no shortage of names, Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City, Juventus, Barcelona, and Real Madrid all reportedly interested) though it is far too early to think of these things, especially in a World Cup year.
To start of the scoring, was Eder Luis who scored in the 21st minute. Having just been bought in January, he hasn’t played too many games but he already looks promising, along with Alan Kardec, and scoring a goal for you new club will only help with confidence. Like I said though, the real star, with some help from players like David Luiz, Fabio Coentrao, and Javier Saviola, was Angel Di Maria with goals in the 58th, 78th, and 86th minutes respectively. It would definitely be enough to keep our first place spot, which is still a mere 1 point advantage above Braga who also won. Though helping us, was the Porto defeat to Sporting, something that shocked me with Sporting’s form in the past well months. It is a great boost as now are main threats are Braga, though I still really wouldn’t rule out Porto making it a little difficult. Considering I believe we all (save for Porto/Sporting) have to play each other so those games will definitely make it or break it.
In somewhat related news, Benfica now have 56 goals in the league campaign. Last year, at the end of the season we had 54, with 1.80 for every 90 minutes, to this years 2.67 average goals per 90 minutes. Congrats boys and keep up this form.
Also this past week was the Benfica gala. I’m still waiting to see it all, but from the looks and sounds of it, I’m sure I will enjoy it. Here is David Luiz interviewing Ruben Amorim and Javi Garcia, with Javi Garcia taking over to interview as well. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yX5NNFcFmsg
