Rio Ave - Benfica Preview

Benfica gets their 08/09 season underway today against Rio Ave. Rio Ave was last year's second place finisher in the Liga Vitalis and makes their return to Portugal's top flight after a 2 year absence. Benfica looks to put behind last year's nightmarish campaign, with a strong start. With new coach Quique Flores at the helm, and strong off season moves, Benfica is looking to get Portugal's top prize, something that has eluded them for the past 3 years.


Quique Flores makes his Liga Sagres debut, and this is his first game roster:

Keepers: Quim and Moreira.
Defenders: Léo, Luisão, Maxi Pereira, Nélson and Sidnei.
Midfielders: Balboa, Binya, Carlos Martins, Fellipe Bastos, Katsouranis, Rúben Amorim, Aimar, Urreta and Yebda.
Forwards: Cardozo, Makukula and Nuno Gomes.

Absences - Moretto, takes on the 3rd goalkeeper for now. David Luiz is not yet 100%. Jorge Ribeiro and Miguel Vitor stay out by technical option and Edcarlos, who Benfica is trying to find a club for, does not figure in Quique's plans. Olympic champion, Angel DiMaria arrived in Lisbon today and is the only midfielder not available to Quique, all other midfielders were called to this game. Mantorras, who is currently undergoing a specific training and recuperation program, is unavailable. Also unavailable but for bureaucratic reasons is Reyes. The Spaniard's international certificate, didn't arrive is Lisbon until Friday, missing the Portuguese League's cut off. Atletico Madrid had some financial problems last year and the Spanish federation froze all of the club's moves until those problems were solved.

Quique called up 19 players and only 18 will be allowed to dress, a decision that will be made at game time.

Looking at the game roster, and based on what we have seen this pre-season, here's my projected 11.
The defense is made up out of the strongest back 4 currently available. With David Luiz still not 100%, Katsouranis will play next to Luisao. Leo seems to be fully recuperated after a scare in Friday's training session. Maxi will be on the right as he has been Quique's choice for that position all throughout the pre-season. Nelson who is currently being negotiated with Spain's Betis, will most likely put on a Benfica jersey for the last time this year. The midfield will not be too different from what we have seen during the pre-season, Yebda will be in the defensive midfield, while Martins will be Benfica's box-2-box. Urreta will be on the left. The the biggest doubt falls on who will play on the right. Will Quique go with Amorim, to provide more defensive consistency? Or will Quique give Balboa the start, turning the midfield in an all attack group? My choice would fall on Balboa, being that, Rio Ave is a weaker team. Up front, it'll be Aimar supporting last season's Benfica top scorer, Cardozo.

Benfica needs to start the season off with a win, there are notable absences such as Reyes, David Luiz and DiMaria. But these 3 absences shouldn't stop Benfica from getting a win in the first game of the season. The team needs to be fully focused and can not underestimate Rio Ave, especially playing away.
With the porto match coming up in the next round, Benfica needs to start off on the right foot, get the first game jitters out of the way and start the new season strong.