Benfica - Leiria Preview

Benfica hosts last place Leiria this Sunday. Leiria has a combined record of 1 win, 15 losses, and 5 ties, having never won away from home. Leiria's relegation is imminent as they have shown no capabilities of climbing the table. The club's current financial situation has also destabilized the team, who have lost 3 of their forwards. Joao Paulo left for Romania, while Maciel and Ferreira have rescinded their contracts with the club due to owed wages. Benfica comes from a draining defeat against Getafe and will look to get back on the winning track and carry momentum into the Getafe game this upcoming week.



Game roster

Keepers: Quim and Butt;
Defenders: Luís Filipe, Edcarlos, Zoro, Léo and Sepsi;
Midfielders: Rui Costa, David Simão, Binya, André Carvalhas, Abduolaye, Nuno Assis, Cristian Rodríguez, Di María;
Forwards: Cardozo, Nuno Gomes and Mantorras.

Notable absences - Nelson(red) and Katsouranis(5 yellows)are both suspended. Luisao, David Luiz, Petit, Maxi and Makula are all hurt, while Freddy Adu is away on international duty. Returning are Nuno Gomes, who seems recuperated from an injury that kept him out of action since the 2nd of February. Camacho called 3 juniors to make the 18 man list, David Simao, Andre Carvalhas and Abduolaye, with the last one making his game roster debut with the senior team.

Projected line up
Quim in goal, Luis Felipe, Zoro, Edcarlos and Leo as the back four. Bynia in front of the defense, Rui Costa, Rodriguez and Assis in the midfield, DiMaria or Nuno Gomes supporting Cardozo. There is also the possibility that Camacho rests Rui Costa, in which case, Assis would take over that role, while Nuno Gomes would support Cardozo upfront, and DiMaria would be back on one of the flanks. Those are 2 of the possibilities, at any rate, it is almost certain that Benfica will not play with 2 defensive midfielders and with 2 forwards, It wouldn't make any sense to play with one forward against the last place team.

Should be an easy win for Benfica, who despite playing the last place team, can't underestimate their opponent. Benfica's defensive needs to start stronger than how they have in the last few games. Zoro has a real chance to prove that he can be the 3rd option for central defender, he played well against Getafe and will need to seize the opportunity. Benfica needs to go up early and manage the game, going up early will give Camacho a chance to manage the squad and give some rest to some players, that are on 2 days rest. Maybe we can even see one of the Juniors make their debut in the Bwin.

Last round it was like this:

Game details via zerozero.pt

Highlights


How i saw it