Setubal 0 - Benfica 4 - 2 Pair takes the Pot

With both Sporting and porto getting wins this weekend, Benfica needed to get a win, if they were to keep chasing any type of an objective this season, and a win they got.
In a night where we didn't quite know which Benfica was going to show up, it was an early 1-2 punch that opened up the way to a comfortable and justified win.


Quique opted not to touch the line up that played against Academica, despite the loss, the team played well, and Quique felt that he might have touched up on something with this line up, especially with the midfield tandem of Amorim and Martins.

Benfica didn't have a very strong aggressive start, despite having their sights set on attacking early on, it was the space allowed to the Setubal men that gave me the all too familiar feeling of a permissible attitude by Benfica. The Setubal men were allowed to show up in between lines and have enough time think their game. On the Benfica side, Reyes seemed to be the man called upon the most to get something started for Benfica.
With Benfica on the rise, the goal only seemed natural, and although the team might sometimes come out of the half deserving to be up, but not having anything to show for, tonight seemed to be different, as the nets bounced for Benfica, not once, but twice in two minutes.
The first one, a well measured cross by Sidnei, who had staid up after a corner clearance, found Nuno Gomes streaking to the first post, in between two defenders Nuno Gomes, did not miss. The second one a low free-kick by Martins that made it past the wall but that ended up on the feet of Cardozo, who blasted a close range shot.
27 minutes gone by and Benfica had just opened the game wide open. The 2 quick goals seemed to bring the Setubal men down a notch, but what was most notable was the fact that Benfica did not retreat into ball watching and waiting for the game to come to them, as they have in the past. Benfica went into the locker room relaxed and I had the impression that they could easily break the game wide open, or keep it under control, if they came out with the right attitude.

The start of the second half couldn't have been better scripted as Cardozo put the final touch on a quick counter play that initiated from a defensive corner clearance.
The goal did not only give Benfica a significant edge on the scoreboard, but it also put the "kaybash" on any plans Setubal had for the first 15 minutes of the second half, in mounting any type of a comeback. From that point on out, it was smooth sailing for Benfica, who played as well as they could, despite Setubal clearly showing a defeated attitude.
Katsouranis, DiMaria and Urreta all got minutes, but the show belonged to the two center forwards as Nuno Gomes got Benfica's 4th goal in the 70th minute. Cardozo still had a chance to make it 5 in the dying minutes of the game, but the save of the night prevented the Paraguayan to get his hat-trick.

Not much else to write about this game, Benfica did their duty, in a game that reminded me of old times, when a Benfica faced a team from the bottom of the table, it was always smooth sailing and easy wins as there was a clear difference between teams from opposite ends of the table.
I'm all for competitiveness and for the little teams to be competitive enough to challenge the big teams, but in the end, a good team needs to rise above and demonstrate their value, that is how championships are won.
It's a bit late for that now, but this is how it should be, going into a game against the 13th place team should not be an enigma or a big question mark on what Benfica is showing up, it should simply be just like tonight, simple, and deserved, but all because the team worked enough to make it that way.