Monday, November 5, 2007

Celtic - Benfica - Champions League Matchday 4


Matchday 4 will see Benfica travel to Scotland to play Celtic in their home field, Celtic Park. Celtic Park is known for its atmosphere and is a place where the crowd can often be intimidating to a visiting team. It is certainly a very important match for Benfica and they can not let themselves be intimidated by the crowd, although it’s easier said than done. For this match Camacho as called the following players:
Keepers: Butt and Quim;
Defenders: Luís Filipe, Zoro, Luisão, Edcarlos, Léo and Miguelito;
Midfielders: Binya, Rui Costa, Nuno Assis, Katsouranis, Maxi Pereira and Cristian Rodriguez;
Forwards: Nuno Gomes, Adu, Bergessio, Di Maria e Cardozo.
Miguelito is the only addition to the group of players that was called up for the P. Ferreira match, reason being that Leo might not be able to go.
Camacho will most likely field the following players:
Quim in goal. Maxi, Luisao, Katsouranis, Leo(Miguelito). Maxi will most likely return to right back to give the back line more consistency. Katsouranis will remain in the center of the defense, he has been playing well and Camacho will once again put him in that position, banking on his CL experience and his chemistry with Luisao. In Midfield, Binya, Rui Costa, Rodriguez and perhaps Di Maria. Camacho might chose to go with Assis, as Assis will know exactly what Benfica can expect at Celtic Park and will not be as intimidated as Di Maria. On the other side of the coin, some players are big game players and maybe Di Maria is such a player. Up Front we will most likely see Nuno Gomes join Cardozo. Nuno Gomes played most of the second half this past Saturday and should be ready to play most of the game; I think his presence on the field is vital for Cardozo’s production.
Benfica needs to come out strong and play well, they can’t let themselves get rattled out by the crowd and will need to score in order to take some of the crowd out of the game. Celtic pressures very high and will be very aggressive in their home field, Benfica will need to move the ball quickly and try to make quick transitions through the wings with either Rodriguez or Di Maria/Assis and try to find Cardozo in the box. It will not be an easy game, Celtic defeated Milan at Celtic Park in matchday 2 which is only proof of how hard it is to come away with points from Scotland, nonetheless it is not an impossible task.

Mathematical Possibilities
With 3 more games yet to be played, there’s still a multiplicity of possibilities for Benfica to qualify for the second round of the Champions League.
Here are the standings:
Milan 6 pts
Shakhtar 6pts
Benfica 3pts
Celtic 3pts

Let’s look at some of the possibilities and where the result of the Celtic Game would leave Benfica:
-A loss against Celtic would send Benfica back to last place, but, would not eliminate Benfica. However, Benfica would have to win the next 2 games against Milan at home and in the Ukraine against Shakhtar to advance.
-A tie against Celtic would keep Benfica in third place ahead of Celtic, and leaves Benfica dependent on only themselves for the last 2 rounds not to mention in an excellent position to make it to the UEFA cup in the eventuality they are to obtain less than positive results in the last 2 rounds.
-A win would leave Benfica tied in points with Shakhtar and in a very good position to advance – assuming Milan will beat the Ukrainian side in this Tuesdays clash and.

The Milan factor
The Italian giants are they key for Benfica’s qualification, their win this Tuesday would help Benfica, Benfica will then host the Italians in matchday 5, in a match that will determine Benfica’s fate, and although a negative result might not send Benfica packing, assuming that Benfica beats Celtic, a win would almost put Benfica through, while a tie would leave everything open to matchday 6.

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