Classico Heats Up

Benfica made their trip up north in their official team bus and are already in a hotel in downtown Porto. The trip itself was calm, with a couple of unmarked police cars escorting the team bus, and with the bus taking the necessary measures to avoid potential dangerous situations in the highway that connects Lisbon to Porto.
However, at the entry of the city of Porto a small group of men "welcomed" Benfica with rocks and with bags filled with blue paint.

Reports this week of a large purchase of golf balls by the super dragays, and their leader coming out claiming that they are revolted against some of the sanctions their club was given this year, and that he could not guarantee there wouldn't be consequences, are making this Sundays game a very high risk game.

porto does not want Benfica celebrating in their home turf, and are going to do what they can to avoid it from happening. The truth is that on both official meetings this year Benfica was superior to porto.
For starters, Benfica starts the game as champions being that they will only need a tie to be champions, secondly, porto has to play to win, and every time they have done that this year they have been dominated and shutdown.

Surely the atmosphere around and in the stadium will be one of "high voltage", between the fans, but how will it translate on the field?
Expect a hard fought game on the field, maybe too hard fought. Benfica has 6 players in risk of sitting out the last game of the season, in the event they pick up a yellow card in this match. Aimar, Di María, Saviola, Fábio Coentrão,Javi García and Ruben Amorim all run the risk of finishing their season Sunday night. I'm predicting that neither team will finish the game with 11.

Bottom line is that Benfica will have to leave their skin on the field to be champions, because they will not be given a free pass. Let's hope that there are no incidents that will mark this season in a negative way. My wishes to the 2550 Benfica fans that acquired their tickets through the club and will be in attendance, are that they make a safe return to their homes unharmed

CARREGA BENFICA