Benfica beat Sporting 6-1 today in the 17th round of the national roller hockey championship, after beating the ‘lions’ in the Champions League in the middle of the week.
The ‘reds’ began to build victory early in the match, through Carlos Nicolía, at six, 23, both from penalties, and two goals in the 24th minute.
Faced with a very undisciplined Sporting team, the Argentine stood out in taking punishments and would sign a poker in the first half, which was joined by a goal from Nil Roca (17), ‘designing’ the 5-0 that was registered at the interval. In a calmer second half, Benfica increased to 6-0 through Roberto di Benedetto (29) and Nolito scored the ‘Leonine’ goal of honor (34).
With this robust victory, the second against their rival in the space of a few days, Benfica recovers in the best form from the defeat suffered in the last round against FC Porto (7-1) and shortens the distance to first place. With 17 games played in the regular phase of the championship, Benfica has 35 points and is now eight behind Sporting, who has 43 and recorded their second defeat in the competition today.
Sporting entered the field hoping to surprise Benfica and, in the first minute, Pedro Henriques, with two attentive defenses, avoided the opening goal.
Then began the odyssey of blue cards for the ‘lions’, with the first being shown to Nolito for bringing down Roberto di Benedetto. Nicolía, from the penalty spot, showed effectiveness and put Benfica ahead on the scoreboard.
At 12, another blue card, for João Souto, for a foul on Ordoñez, and, at 17, Nil Roca, with a cross shot ‘from the middle of the street’, raised the Luz stands, making it 2-0.
In the following minutes, Sporting reacted with shots from Souto and Bridge, but the post and Pedro Henriques prevented Alejandro Dominguez’s team from returning to the fight for the result.
Benfica was more effective and did not make things easier in the face of the indiscipline of the ‘Leonine’ players: in just two minutes, Benfica reached 5-0, with Nicolía scoring three times and completing a poker by converting two free-kicks and a penalty, which punished harsh fouls from the ‘green and white’ team.
Even with the game in hand, Benfica didn’t take their foot off the accelerator and, in the first minutes of the second half, extended it to 6-0, in a great team move, in which Roberto di Benedetto added his name to the list of scorers, beating José Diogo for the first time, replacing Ângelo Girão, who did not return from the locker room after the break.
In the 34th minute, a moment of happiness finally arrived for Sporting, with Nolito scoring the first goal of the afternoon for the Alvalade team, with a strong shot, which sent the ball into the corner of Pedro Henriques’ goal.