Three goals in six minutes ‘against Benfica’ were enough this Tuesday for the ‘reds’ to secure passage to the quarter-finals of the Portuguese Football Cup, with a turnaround at Farense (3-1), after a weak first half .
In the penultimate match of the round of 16, at the São Luís Stadium, Tomané opened the game for the home team, in the seventh minute, but goals from Schjelderup, in the 56th minute, Arthur Cabral, in the 58th minute, and Bah, in the 62nd minute, sentenced the tie to favor of outsiders.
The Benfica coach made four changes in relation to Saturday’s game against Sporting, which gave the League Cup to the Reds (7-6 on penalties, after 1-1 in regular time), with the addition of Samuel Soares, Bah, Leandro Barreiro and Arthur Cabral. Trubin, Tomás Araújo, Kökçü and Pavlidis left.
At Farense, faced with an away draw (1-1) with Santa Clara in the 17th round of the championship, Tozé Marreco made two changes in defense, with the addition of defenders Raúl Silva and Tomás Ribeiro – the only winter reinforcement who made his debut for the Algarve – and the departure of Lucas Áfrico and Marco Moreno.
Benfica, in ‘4x3x3’, took less than a minute to create danger, in the first approach to the Algarve goal: Schjelderup gained space on the left and crossed to the second post, where Di María appeared dominating with his chest and shooting just above the post .
The start of the Reds’ outburst had a reaction equal to that of the Algarve, who in the seventh minute took the lead, with a header from Tomané, at the first post, winning António Silva’s aerial duel, after a corner from the right scored by Merghem.
The goal ended up reinforcing the outsider’s upward trend, especially because the Faro team, positioned in the usual ‘3x4x3’, retreated its lines, letting the ‘reds’ exchange the ball, but without the ability to create an imbalance, which is explained by the defensive bias. of the three starting midfield options.
Farense, who shortly after half an hour lost midfielder Ângelo Neto to injury – replaced by Seruca –, controlled Benfica’s attacks, which until the break, despite the combinations of Carreras and Schjelderup on the left, only created more ball danger stoppage, from a free kick by Di María saved by Ricardo Velho, in the 22nd minute.
Furthermore, the Argentine international, with apparent physical complaints, was also replaced, in the 40th minute, by Amdouni, who joined Arthur Cabral in the Benfica team’s attack, with a tactical system changed to ‘4x4x2’.
The second half began with Miguel Menino forcing Samuel Soares into a tight defense, in the 50th minute, before Benfica, who seemed ‘absent’ from the game, completed the comeback ‘out of nowhere’ in just two minutes and left the tie decided shortly afterwards.
Schjelderup, in the 56th minute, in a move reminiscent of Saturday’s goal against Sporting, scored the equalizer, Arthur Cabral, in the 58th minute, made it 2-1, after a long cross from Carreras, and Bah, in the 62nd minute, ‘fixed’ the game in the recovery of a shot by Cabral saved by Ricardo Velho.
The changes made by the Farense coach in an attempt to return to the discussion of the game had no effect, while Bruno Lage ‘offered’ an official debut in the ‘red’ team to the Albanian defender Bajrami, who came on in the 88th minute.
In the next round, Benfica will host the winner of the clash between Sporting de Braga and Lusitano de Évora, which will be played on Wednesday.
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