Vangelis Pavlidis was the great figure of the match, scoring a hat-trick against the Cascais Line team. With this triumph, the ‘reds’ shorten the gap over their Second Circular rival, who slipped up on Friday, in Barcelos.
Benfica beat Estoril this Saturday, by and shortened the distance to rival Sporting in the league table .
After the draw in Braga that left a lot to talk about, José Mourinho made three changes. António Silva, Manu Silva and Gianluca Prestianni took the place of Tomás Araújo, Enzo Barrenechea and Fredrik Aursnes.
But the ‘red’ coach had a headache before the start of the match at Estádio da Luz. António Silva was injured in the warm-up and didn’t even make the bench, giving way to Tomás Araújo.
The first goal of the match came in the 33rd minute. The referee went to the VAR and, after analysis, indicated the mark of 11 meters per arm on the ball by Alejandro Marqués in the Canarian area. When taking the maximum penalty, Vangelis Pavlidis did not waste anything and opened the scoring at Luz.
Already in time of first-half discounts, the ‘eagles’ increased their advantage. Pavlidis got behind the Canarian defense after a pass from Leandro Barreiro and, with all the calm in the world, the Eagles’ striker lobbed Joel Robles.
Two minutes later, at a time when Benfica fans were celebrating in the stands, the Estorilistas brought the heat to the boil. After an initiative by Rafik Guitane on the right side of the attack, the French winger placed it low in the middle and João Carvalho shot well to reduce the deficit on the scoreboard.
In the second half, the ‘reds’ reached the third goal, as did Vangelis Pavlidis. In the 80th minute, after a great run from Sidny Cabral on the left side, the Eagles’ most recent signing moved into the middle and saw the Greek striker pull over to score the match’s hat-trick.
