Another trophy for Benfica
After being crowned the winner of the 2019 International Champions Cup on Saturday, Benfica made it two trophies in two days with a crushing 5-0 defeat of crosstown rival Sporting CP in the Portugal Super Cup.
Benfica entered the game confidently after being last season’s Liga NOS Champions and winning the International tournament overseas, but it was Sporting who came out putting constant pressure and having numerous chances in the first half to get the lead. Benfica goalkeeper Odisseas who had to make some diving saves to keep the Lisbon Eagles from falling behind. The game appeared to be heading into halftime scoreless but as has been the case with this Benfica team they found the back of the net. A superb cross pass from Pizzi set up Rafa to the right of the keeper who buried the shot to take the lead 1-0 in the final minutes of the half
The team from last season who set a goal scoring record showed their fans in the second half that this squad will be no different. Benfica was able to put the game out of reach with four goals in the second half from Pizzi (2), Grimaldo and Chiquino for the 5-0 victory.
Pizzi was set up by Rafa as the forwards pressed the Sporting defense which coughed up the ball in their zone and Pizzi slotted the second goal to get Benfica on the scoreboard for the second time. As shown last season this SLB team has a knack to put teams away before the opposing team can realize what hit them. Moments later Grimaldo found the back of the net to make it 3-0 on a beautiful curling free kick just outside the box. At this point Sporting was reeling and Benfica could feel it as they kept putting on the pressure as Pizzi once again buried the ball past the Lions keeper to put the game completely out of hand at 4-0. The game got chippy in the final minutes but that wouldn’t stop Chiquino from also getting on the scoreboard on the final shot of the game to close put the scoring at 5-0 in the Lisbon Derby for the SuperTaca.
The Liga NOS begins this Saturday and the defending champions made a statement to the rest of the league with this victory that the road won’t be easy to take their title away.
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