Benfica - Nacional Preview

Benfica will look to cement their Liga Sagres lead when they host Nacional this Monday. With all 3 teams below Benfica getting ties this past weekend, Benfica can increase their lead to all of them with a win against Nacional.
Nacional who is currently 6th, started the league on fire with 4 consecutive wins only to taste defeat for the first time in the 7th round at the hands of their island rivals Maritimo.

For this game Quique called on the following players:
Keepers: Moreira and Moretto;

Defenders: Luisão, Maxi Pereira, David Luiz, Jorge Ribeiro, Sidnei, Miguel Vítor;

Midfielders: Katsouranis, Aimar, Balboa, Rúben Amorim, Binya and Yebda;

Forwards: Cardozo, Urreta, Di María, Nuno Gomes and Suazo

Jorge Ribeiro has fully recuperated from his injury and will once again be part of Quique's options. The absence of Reyes constitutes the biggest surprise of this game roster. An old injury has surfaced, and Quique does not want to risk it. Benfica's physio had originally announced muscular fatigue, but after undergoing in depth testing, they found that it was something other than that, but did not yet post a diagnosis. In Quique's pre-game press conference, Quique stated that the injury is a past injury that could only be detected with extensive tests, and stated that Reyes arrived at Benfica with this injury already. DiMaria makes his second game roster in a row, and seems to be ready to start in Reyes' place.

Here's the starting 11 that Quique will most likely field.

Moreira in goal. Maxi, Luisao, Sidnei and Jorge Ribeiro from right to left. Binya and Katsouranis will be in the middle, while DiMaria and Amorim will be on the flanks. Aimar should support Suazo up front.

The Portuguese media was in a frenzy all week, after porto had cut down Benfica's lead to two points, when they made up their game against Estrela da Amadora, and with Benfica only playing today(Monday), the media filled their pages with the possibility of porto, and Leixoes passing Benfica, even if provisionally. As it turns out, even if Benfica loses today's game they will still be winter champions as they currently have a 1 point lead to both Leixoes and Porto and today's game yet to play.
A win today would put a nice 4 point cushion between Benfica and second and third place and would increase the lead to Sporting to 5. If this is not motivation enough for the team, than i don't know what is.
The team is coming off two losses, and two failed objectives, they will need to continue to show that the league has nothing to do with any other competitions, as Quique has stated.
The fans base has also started to grow suspicious of the team, and not because we doubt the quality of the team, but because of recent past implosions. Nonetheless, the fans will be behind the team, and we'll probably see a good turn out at Estadio da Luz, despite many being wiped out by holiday shopping.

It is a great opportunity for the team to put some distance between them and their direct competition, i don't expect them to waste it, regardless of the difficulty of the game. With motivation, and the fans behind the team, there should be no reason why the team shouldn't come out ready to settle the contest quick.

CARREGA BENFICA