Benfica 1 - Rio Ave 0 - Water, Steel and.....Mantorras

The second half couldn't have started better for Benfica, as the team was able to overcome the elements, and come out with the three points. I'll be honest, when the game came on, and i saw the state of the pitch, and i thought to myself that it was going to be a long and difficult night. It proved to be just that, but with some of the luck we have been missing and our usual amulet, or comeback kid, whichever one you prefer, we were able to get 3 points that will come up very big down the road.


Quique lined up the following 11:

Quim in goal. Maxi, Luisao, Sidnei and David Luiz. In the midfield Martins partnered up with Yebda, in a tandem reminiscent of the beginning of the season. On the wings, it was DiMaria and Amorim, while up front Nuno Gomes and Cardozo lined up side by side.
The conditions of the field weren't the best for the more technical players, and Quique opted to leave Aimar on the bench.

As for the game, not really a lot to write about, a heavily soaked pitch, causing the ball to stop midway through its path, and players to lose their footing, doesn't always make for the best game, and that's exactly what the first half was, a sloppy wet game. Benfica couldn't really get anything going for most of the half, but were able finish the half strong, with a period of 10 minutes or so, in which they seemed to have figure out how to adapt to the monsoon.
Three great opportunities came from those 10 minutes, first Cardozo with a shot that hit the steel upright defended by Rio Ave, Dimaria incredibly missed the rebound. The second opportunity, once again came from the feet of Cardozo, who found Nuno Gomes in the box, Gomes was not able to get the right touch and the ball went wide. Right in the dying minutes of the half, Martins took a free kick that was brilliantly saved by the Rio Ave keeper.
Perhaps the nil-nil result at the half was entirely justifiable, but the way Benfica finished off the half, it left me with hope that in the second half we would get the second solitary goal that would give us the three points.

Benfica started off the second half the same way the finished the first, clearly the team with more initiative and control of the game. 15 minutes in, Cardozo would once again hit steel, this time with a header, following a Maxi cross. Quique made his first substitution of the night, in the 61st minute, bringing Reyes for the ineffective DiMaria. A change that brought the left side a bit more presence as far as attacking goes. But it was in the 66th minute that Quique changed the game by putting in Mantorras for Nuno Gomes. The Angolan international was welcomed with an ovation from the 20 thousand something at hand.
The fans have a very special relationship with Mantorras, and although he is the butt of many jokes, by our rivals, the truth is that Mantorras holds a special place in all the hearts of Benfiquistas, and despite having missed out on a great career due to his knee problems, the Angolan was instrumental in Benfica's last title, and he proved once again to be what Benfica needed to get past Rio Ave.
It only took Mantorras 4 minutes, as he shielded a ball that dropped in front of him from a defender, and was able to rotate and fire past the keeper. Needless to say, the stadium erupted and the team got the goal they had been looking for. Benfica held on until the end of the game, with Binya coming into the middle for Martins to hold the midfield.

A very tough game, not because of the quality of the adversary, but because of the torrential downpour, and the state of the pitch. I though modern fields had a good system in place that prevented the field from getting saturated with water, it seems odd to me that Benfica's stadium was that filled with water.

The game also held significant importance due to being the first game in a sequence that can very much determine the teams' future, so it was important to get a win and get this cycle started the right way. Next up, is a trip to porto, which will give us a chance to claim back first place. With only one point difference between us and the corruption attempt guilt assumption(CAGA for short), team the trip to the north will carry less of a pressure burden for Benfica.

Small note for the flash interviews given by the Rio Ave men, claiming that the result is unfair and that they were the better team.
It's unreal how a team, who is currently in last place, and that doesn't play a lick can say that they were the better team, in a game where the field worked in their favor as their sole purpose was to defend at all costs and come out of this with at least a win.
Off course with a field completely soaked, it's always going to favor the more defensive team, to claim that they were the better team and that they deserved a different result, just makes me wonder what game they were watching.
I know that Benfica didn't play all that well, specifically in the first half, but with 2 balls on the irons, a couple clamorous misses, and giving the chance to the Rio Ave keeper to make the save of the night, seems to me that the only team that deserved the final score was the team inred, not the team wearing that other ugly color.