Benfica 5 - Everton 0 - A Night to Remember

What was perhaps one of the most difficult games of the group stages for Benfica, turned out to be a game that will be remembered by many for a long time. It's not every game you score 5 goals, scratch that,(not most games at least), but to score 5 against a team, that has a respectable status in the English Premiership, is something that has to be filed in every Benfiquista's memory.
Skeptics,"lagartos" and "porcos" may say that this Everton was a depleted Everton, missing a couple of key elements, but when our team shows itself at this level, game in and game out, not even a selection of all the best Everton players of the past three seasons would have been able to stop our team, and we will once again prove the 5-0 was no fluke, when we meet Everton again in Liverpool in a little bit over a week.


The starting 11 wasn't too far from we are used to seeing, Julio Cesar got the start, as he has up to this point in the Europa league, and Amorim got the start ahead of Maxi.

Benfica was just too strong for Everton from start to finish, despite Everton showing some life halfway through the first half. The early goal at the 14th minute was more than deserved as Benfica had already threatened Tim Howard's goal a couple of times. Saviola met a a millimetric DiMaria cross with a volley that bounced over Howard and into the back of the net.
It was the start Benfica worked for, and Everton didn't have any answers for Benfica's initial charge. After the first goa,l Everton got their bearings back but much because of Benfica's slowing of play, Benfica was now taking less risks and playing a more calculated and predictable style, which allowed Everton to sort out their positioning, and even out a game. Still, both DiMaria, and Saviola proved to be complete headaches for the Everton defense as all of the danger seemed to go through their feet.
Benfica went into the locker room with good momentum, but the score seemed short, and not at all one that we could rest on.

JJ's pep talk at the half seemed to work, as Benfica came out firing on all cylinders and 7 minutes into the second half we were up 4-0. Cardozo scored on the 47th and 48th, and Luisao would deliver the knockout punch in the 52nd minute.
It was that quick and merciless, no time to breathe for the English has Howard must have felt he was in practice, as his ball fetching from inside the net, came quick and frequent. To his credit, none of the goals can be put on him, as Cardozo tapped in his first, headed his second uncontested, and Luisao was also given a free header off a corner.
Everton still looked for their honor goal, but DiMaria, Saviola, Aimar and company proved to be too much for the English side. Saviola closed out the scoreboard in the 83rd minute, and the night that will soon not be forgotten by Benfiquistas.

With the win and the amount of goals scored, Benfica ascended to first place of the group, and is now in complete control of their qualification to the next round as Borisov beat AEK. Next is a trip to England to prove the 5-0 result was not a flash in the pan, surely things will not be as easy at Goodison park, but Benfica has as much of an answer to give Everton as the home side does to Benfica. A win at Goodison could seal a trip into the next round.

Time after time, this team has showed that it's real, the quality and the results are there, game after game. I know that there's a perhaps unhealthy euphoric state around this team, but what this team has shown us, is nothing compared to any type of promise shown in the past 10 years.
Screw the statistics, they might say this team this, and this team that, by comparison to past years, but the biggest difference, and the reason why fans are joining the wave in droves, is in the way the team plays, and not statistics.
Fans believe in this team, they believe in its quality, their players, and their coach, and when you believe in those things, it's easy to be a believer. I am a believer, are YOU?