The selection period is over and the national competitions are back. Benfica goes to the Estádio Comendador Joaquim de Almeida Freitas (home of Moreirense), to visit Pevidém (20:15), which competes in the Portuguese Championship, in a match in the 3rd round of the Portuguese Cup.
Last season, the Eagles fell in the semi-finals, at the hands of Sport, but now they have renewed spirit and will begin a journey that they hope will end with them winning the competition for the 27th time.
The Guimarães team, in 2023/24, was eliminated by Montalegre, precisely at this stage, and enters the game with an open heart and just hoping to try to do better than last year.
The game was suggested by David Silva (AF Porto), who only refereed once for Benfica, in the match of the 34th round of Serie I, in 2024, against Rio Ave.
The moment of form
Bruno Lage had two more weeks to brainstorm his ideas in the team and this test could not have come at a better time, even to see if the material learned had been internalized. Although the coach is expected to present an alternative starting eleven (especially given the tough challenge of the Champions League in four days with Feyenoord), it will be good to assess whether there is a new dynamic and whether fill in the blanks. .
With Lage in charge everything is a bed of roses, especially since he returned to his native Setubal who only knows how to win. Meanwhile, there is a scoring phase with a good performance, with a natural highlight being the defeat against Atlético de Madrid (4-0).
In other words, in five games, the Red and Blacks have five wins, two of them in the Champions League. This is probably not the ideal opponent to test Benfica’s unbeaten record, but it will be positive to understand the level of the usual reserves and even for some of the less used players to get a chance for the upcoming fights.
On the other hand, Pevidém remains in fourth place in Serie A of the Brazilian Championship and has a lower competitive density, mainly due to the three categories that separate the two teams. This season he has already played seven games, in which he has four wins, two defeats (Joane and Bragança) and a draw, with Brito, precisely in the last round.
One of the things that concern this team is that the results of this season, whether they lose or win, have been on the smallest margin, which shows that the defensive organization is one of the priorities of the coach João Pedro Coelho.
There is no direct confrontation, but Benfica have already fallen to more accessible teams
This space is usually dedicated to the direct confrontation between the two teams, but since this is the first clash between the two teams, we prefer to remember the times when weaker teams of Benfica were eliminated from the Cup Portuguese.
There have been six such moments in this century, the biggest (and the one that Benfica fans have defended the most) being the victory in the final of the competition, in 2012/13, which gave Vitória’s brave players the opportunity to Guimarães lifted the trophy for the first time.
The same Victorians already caused the Eagles trouble in 2010, when they eliminated them in the fourth round, with a narrow 1-0 victory.
But this was not the only time that Benfica beat teams of the same level, but it was considered to be on another level, because in 2008, Leixões also advanced in the round of 16, after an epic duel on penalties (0 to 0 ). , 5 to 4), who ended up smiling at the people of Mato Grosso.
If we continue to go back in time, to 2007, it was the turn of the modest Varzim to leave Benfica on the road, also in the round of 16, with a tasty 2-1 victory.
In 2002, Gondomar went further and even managed to eliminate the Luz emblem in the 4th round, with an unexpected 1-0 victory, at the Estádio da Luz.
Finally, in 2001, Marítimo left the Eagles in the 5th round of the Cup, with a draw achieved in extra time, in Luz, benefiting from the previous 0-0 victory in Madeira.
What the coaches say
Bruno Lage, coach of Benfica: “A well-organized, well-worked team, with interesting players. So we expect a Cup game, but the preparation method was the same as the previous ones and that gives us confidence.”
João Pedro Coelho, coach of Pevidém: “It is important to say that, regardless of the result, the team will always win. It would be incompetent for us to take the importance of this game solely for the result”
