Benfica 2 - Sporting 0

They say that records are meant to be broken, and tendencies meant to be changed amidst evolution. Benfica did just that by beating Sporting at home for the first time in 3 seasons. Paulo Bento who anticipated the match by pointing out the fact that he had never lost for the league at Estadio da Luz, saw that tendency go out the window,when his team was fairly beaten by Benfica 2-0.



Before a packed house of 60,000 plus, Quique repeated the same 11 that had played P. Ferreira on Monday.
Quim in goal. Maxi, Miguel Vitor, Sidnei and Jorge Ribeiro in the back. Yebda, Martins in the middle, Amorim and Reyes on the flanks. Up front it was Nuno Gomes supporting Cardozo.

In my preview I had projected Leo, Aimar and Katsouranis to start, as did many others, but Quique felt confident enough with the line up he had fielded against P.Ferreira and gave them another go, proof of the balance that exists in the squad this year. While in previous years, we hoped second stringers could fill in the obvious starters, this year it's starting to look like anyone on the bench can be a starter.
I have never been a big supporter of Jorge Ribeiro, and quite frankly, was even against his acquisition(for the obvious reasons), but after not being a part of Quique's plans in the very start of the season, Ribeiro has emerged as the starter ahead of Leo, who I(and many) consider the best left back in the league. Ribeiro brings something that Leo does not have, the long shot. With that threat, Benfica makes their left side attacking game less obvious. I am surprised that he has beaten Leo to the starting job, but Quique works with the players every day and knows what each player is capable of.
Another player deserving Quique's confidence is Miguel Vitor, who despite still being very "green" has done fairly well. Sidnei is quickly earning the affection of the fans much like David Luiz did when he started playing.
In the midfield, Yebda continues to impress me, and he is quickly erasing the memory of Petit.
Reyes who has been growing from game to game, got his first goal as a Benfica player, and hopefully got a boost of confidence and will be looking to become the world class Reyes we know. Amorim got another start for his consistency. I have written here once before that he is not a flashy player, but his work rate is what benefits Benfica.
Nuno Gomes is heavily contested at times, but the captain continues to give his all. He will be the only forward available to play against Napoli.

On to the game

I thought the first half was very balanced, Sporting could have given the game another direction, had Yannick not wasted an opportunity seconds into the game. Both Sidnei and Miguel Vitor took a little bit to sort out their markings and it provided for a few dangerous occasions in Sporting's favor. Benfica responded with a few dangerous situations of their own, but nothing too wasteful on their part.
The half was divided into periods of domination, with Benfica coming out stronger in the first period of the game, Sporting balancing it out in the second period and taking initiative, and Benfica finishing out the half stronger. The game was wide open and far from the derbies we have seen in the recent past, where both teams lock themselves up with match ups.
Right before the end of the half, the man in the middle could have given Benfica a penalty after Yebda was held by Postiga inside the box, perhaps the only critical mistake made by the referee the entire game.

With the half coming to a close, I got the feeling that Benfica could win the game, the game was wide open, but the way Benfica finished up the half gave me a sense that more could be done with a few tweaks here and there.
Quique didn't wait too long, and coming out of the locker room at the half, Quique subbed in Katsouranis for Amorim. Katsouranis came to the center, while Martins went to the right, a move that in my opinion was the turning point of the game. Not only did Katsouranis give Benfica's midfield more cohesiveness, his positioning on the field, and how he fills in spaces, was crucial for Benfica to take charge of the midfield. Yebda was given more freedom, and Martins gave the right side a more purposeful sense of attack.
Sporting appeared contained by Benfica's midfield, and far from what they showed in the first half. Benfica was dominating the midfield but their midfield dominance wasn't adding up to goal chances, which made Quique introduce Aimar into the game, in detriment of Nuno Gomes. The Argentinean brought better ball holding ability and better dish off capability. It was that ball touching ability that set up Benfica's first goal, in the 67th minute. Aimar found Reyes on the corner of the box, and the Spaniard put the ball, in the furthest corner of goal with the outside of his foot. It was the corollary to what Benfica had been doing up to that point, who despite not having the clearest of goal opportunities, were pushing Sporting into their defensive.
Sidnei would put the game out of reach 5 minutes later, after heading a Carlos Martins free kick home. Quique subbed in DiMaria for Reyes in the 75th minute in an effort to refresh the left side of the attack. Sporting could do very little to answer Benfica's 1-2 punch and were not able to respond, with the exception of a close range blast from Yannick, in which Quim answered in the best way. Martins would end up not finishing the game, after an injury, which left Benfica with 10 minutes in the dying minutes of the game. Aimar also finished the game with some complaints and their availability for the Napoli game, as of this minute, is uncertain.

Individually

Quim - 7
Maxi - 7
Vitor - 7
Sidnei - 8
Ribeiro - 7
Yebda - 8
Martins - 7
Reyes - 8
Amorim - 6
Gomes - 6
Cardozo - 7

Katsouranis - 7
Aimar - 7
DiMaria - 6

A clear win by Benfica, who shortened their distance to Sporting to 1 point.
Going into this game, there was a certain confidence, on my part, that Benfica would come out of this game with a win. Playing at home in front of their fans, has to be motivation enough to want to win, let's hope that Benfica can give continuity to this result, starting right this Thursday, when they play Napoli for a chance to reach the UEFA Cup's group stages.

The work that's been done by Quique has just started but is already showing signs of its potential. The squad is starting to look strong and showing its personality. Let's hope we can get all the players back and healthy, so that we can have a good run this year.

Photo - Joao Henriques - AP