Napoli 3 - Benfica 2

Benfica started their UEFA Cup journey with a loss to Napoli by the score of 3-2. It could have been a lot worst, had Benfica not scored their second goal. With 2 away goals on their side, Benfica leaves their future wide open, and hopefully at Estadio da Luz they can send Napoli packing.

I'll start by saying that i watched brief periods of the game, between working and listening to the game over the internet. I can't really go into a detailed breakdown of the game, but have to say that the result is not a bad result. Having scored two away goals, means that winning in Lisbon by the smallest of margins(as long as it doesn't involve a lot of goals) will be good enough to go through.

Here's how Quique set up the team:
Quim in goal. Maxi, Luisao, Sidnei and Leo as the back four. Yebda and Martins as the two central midfielders, Urreta and Reyes on the flanks, while DiMaria supported Suazo.

The biggest surprise was the inclusion of Urreta on the right flank. While on my preview of the game, I had considered Urreta as one of the options to the right side, it seemed incredibly ballsy from Quique to play with 3 players in the midfield sector with clear attacking characteristics and only one defensive midfielder in Yebda.
I had suggested Amorim to the right has he would provide some balance to the midfield, as he can defend well, and could compensate for Martins to make his forward runs. Obviously Quique gets paid the big bucks and is with the players every day, who am I to question his decisions? It's all very simple to sit here and pick apart the team after the match is done, so i'll leave it at that.

From what i read, and heard, Benfica started the game relaxed and did not limit themselves to holding a defensive line. Suazo put Benfica ahead at the 16 minute mark, with a surgical header off a Martins corner. Napoli reversed(1-1)(2-1)the scoreboard 3 minutes later.
It's hard to understand how a team can surrender two goals in 3 minutes, but with the absence of midfield pressure and subsequent final third space allowance, it's easy to understand.
Both Reyes and Urreta barely defended and Benfica's turnovers in the midfield was causing the two wingers to be caught up front. A few saves from Quim kept Benfica in the game in the first half, and when Quim did his best Ricardo impression, Leo was on the goal line to save him.

Down 2-1 at the half, Quique substituted Urreta for Balboa in a straight switch. Quique gave Benfica some time to put his locker room instructions to work, but Benfica was unable to secure the midfield, and suffered the 3-1 10 minutes into the half. An unfortunate play, in which the ball hits Leo in the back and fools Quim. Quique used his second substitution right away and took out Martins for Katsouranis, giving the midfield more consistency, with more possession and more defensive capacity.
Benfica became a more cohesive team, an fought to get back in the game. Luisao got one back for Benfica 4 minutes after Benfica going down 3-1, and Benfica seemed to minimize some of the damage. Nuno Gomes came into the game for DiMaria, who is very far from being the DiMaria from this past August. The final whistle came and the scoreboard stayed at 3-2.

A few bad calls by the referee, something that it's unusual at this level. A couple reds that stayed in his pocket, after less than fair tackles by the Italians, and a penalty suffered by Sidnei, towards the end of the game, where the young Brazilian was held by the Italian defender, preventing him from getting to a ball. When it boils down, it was some mistakes by the team that prevented them of bringing a more favorable result to Lisbon.

One last thing on the game, good debut for Suazo, who looks like he can do great things for Benfica, let's hope that with time and the right personell around him he can meet all of the expectations.

Being that it's a two leg aggregate system, the result is not as bad as it looks. The 2 precious goals scored away can easily win the Benfica a place in the group stages of the UEFA Cup, all Benfica needs to do is to beat Napoli by 1 goal (1-0 or 2-1)in Lisbon to go through.
There was much talk about Napoli, but from what i saw, Napoli is a quality team but very accessible and very beatable. In Lisbon they won't have the backing they had at the Sao Paolo, and it'll be interesting to see what their game plan will be. If they had 40,000 something fans at their stadium, wait until they are the Estadio da Luz in front of 50,000+. So, everything still open as far as Benfica's future in the UEFA Cup. I also feel that the Benfica players were left with the impression that they can beat this Napoli team very easily.



Highlights