First things first let me apologise for the lack of blogging in the past couple of weeks.  Due to a combination of moving house, illness and a wrist injury I haven’t been writing much, but I’m all better now, so I will do my best to resume blogging about all things Benfica.

Made in Argentina

Regarding yesterday’s game, we can go into Christmas feeling a little less gloomy, as this victory was a reminder that the team hasn’t completely forgotten how to play the fantastic football that characterised the successes of last season.   Almost all of the plaudits have to go in the direction of our Argentinian quartet who were responsible for all five goals and most definitely had the Estadio da Luiz dancing to a tango beat.

Indeed, it took the Argentines just five minutes to stamp their authority on proceedings as Pablo Aimar put Benfica one nil up within five minutes.  However, while the majority of this report will be spent praising our awesome Argentines, it should be noted that this goal came about following an excellent pass from a Brazilian; David Luiz.  Drawing the attention of three defenders, the afroed one played Aimar in with a delightful through ball, meaning the opening goal had a distinctly curly feel about it.

Within three minutes the lead was doubled, as Nicolas Gaitan burst down the left flank and picked out Javier Saviola, who volleyed home with the help of a generous deflection.   Quick, creative, skillful and ingenuitive this was the sort of football we crave and know the team are capable of producing.  Indeed, it was sort of football we produced on a regular basis last season and had the crowd rocking in their seats.

Super Salvio

The Argentine appreciation would go into overdrive during the second half as the fabulous four really began to enjoy themselves.  On 52 minutes Salvio cantered along the right flank and pulled the ball back across goal for Saviola to score his second with a cool finish.  Much of the credit for that goal had to go to Salvio and the 20 year old would go onto to grab the 3rd and 4th means through the most improbable of means; a headed brace. 

Prior to this game i can’t recall ever having seen Salvio head the ball, but lo and behold the little Argentine hit the net with two efforts that would be the envy of most target men.  The first owed much to Gaitan, who outfoxed two defenders and delivered an inviting cross for his compatriot to head home.  However,  the credit for the fifth goal must rest solely with Salvio.  A Pablo Aimar free kick was cleared only as far as the attack midfeilder who was postioned just outside of the penalty box.  Rather then bring the ball down, or attempt a volley, the diminutive Argentine simply stood still and redirected the ball into the back of the net with a fabulous looping header.  To score from outside the box at any time is an achievement, but to do so with your head really takes some doing and this a goal that will live long in the memory.

The only negatives in this encouraging performance were the two goals conceded, the first coming about after our attempts at playing the offside trap once again failed and the second a penalty following a Gaitan handball.  A clean sheet would have been nice, but it’s Christmas, so lets focus on the positives and hope that this performance sets the tone for the remainder of the season.

Player Ratings

  Roberto 6.5

Pereira 6.5

Luiz 7

Sideni 7

Coentrao 6.5

Garcia 6.5

Salvio 9

Aimar 7

Gaitan 7

Saviola 8.5

Cardozo 6.5

The big man is back and what a difference he made.  Scoring two goals and creating another, Oscar Cardozo underlined just how important he is to this Benfica team, and with Sporting holding Porto on Saturday night, the gap has been closed to eight points.

Beira pay the penalty

Jorge Jesus made two changes to the side which lost in Israel replacing Pablo Aimar and Salvio with Carlos Martins and Ruben Amorim, while Cardozo made his first start since September.  On the whole the first half was a drab affair played at a slow pace with neither side showing much in the way of haste or energy, although Javier Saviola did come close to breaking the deadlock when his powerful striker was pushed onto the crossbar.  This aside, the only occasions on which we truly threatened were some excellent set piece deliveries from Carlos Martins who placed a free kick on Luisao’shead only for the Brazilian’s effort to be well saved. 

The home side offered virtually nothing in terms of attacking intent, but were defending stubbornly.  However, the deadlock was finally broken minutes before the interval, when a penalty was awarded for a pull on Cardozo following a Martins corner.  Whether it really was a penalty is debatable, as this sort of activity usually goes unpunished, but the defender certainly had a handful of the Paraguayan’s shirt and couldn’t really complain about the referee’s decision.  Up stepped Cardozo and the 27 year old rolled the ball into the bottom corner in that uber cool fashion of his, securing a half time lead.

Terrible Tacuara

It might be cliched to talk about a ‘game of two halves’, but in this instance the old saying rang true, as the second half offered the goals and excitement which were sorely missing from the first.  Indeed after only a minute’s play Cardozo should have grabbed his second, but missed the ball completely after Ruben Amorim had squared from the right.  Even Beira Mar could and probably should have scored, following some more of the woeful defending we have sadly become accustomed to this season.  Defending a routine free kick, our back line stepped up far to late, leaving three opposition attackers onside and with the goal at their mercy.  Lucky for us the Beira Mar forwards seemed at a complete loss for what to do and tamely headed straight into Roberto’s grateful hands.  The host came close again minutes latter when Ronny outpaced our defence only to strike the post.

Things were getting a little close for comfort at this stage, thusbig Oscar took matters into his own hands with a truly fantastic goal.  Receiving the ball on the the corner of the box, the Paraguyan looked set to try and pick out a teammate, but instead he took one look up and curled the ball into the back of net with unnerving accuracy.  It was a goal which deserved to win any game and at 2-0 the hosts had more or less given up the ghost.  However, Tacuara was not finished.  The Paraguayan collected the ball out wide, beat his man and squared for Javier Saviola to make it three.  I commented in my review of the Hapoel game that Cardozo’s return would hopefully bring the best out of Saviola and lets hope this goal is a sign of things to come. 

Defensive Worries

Beira-Mar did grab a late consolation as once again a free kick proved to be our undoing.   Luisao failed to clear and Rui Varela converted to make the scoreline a little less one sided.  Despite the victory our defence is still worrying me.  In the past two fixtures we have been utterly incapable of defending routine set pieces and perhaps his mind has been turned by all the talk of Milan, Madrid and Manchester, but David Luiz has not look like a £20 million defender this season.   But lets look on the bright side, Cardozo is back and scoring, Porto only drew, and the impossible challenge has become a little bit more doable.

Player Ratings

Roberto -6

Perreria- 6.5

Luisao- 6

David Luiz- 6

Coentrao- 6.5

Garcia- 6.5

Amorim 6-5

Gaitan- 6

Martins- 7.5

Saviola- 7

Cardozo- 8.5

For all the latest Benfica news and discussion in English visit www.planetbenfica.net

Time to pick ourselves up all over again.

After the second crushing defeating in a month, Jorge Jesus once again needs to lift his charges and make sure we do not fall any further behind Porto.

The Opponent

Beira-Mar currently sit eighth in the table and are unbeaten in five home games, so this is by no means an easy fixture.  The Auri-negros have struggled to hit the net, scoring just 12 goals in 11 games, but possess a resolute defence which has only conceded 12.   This will be Benfica’s first trip to the Estadio Municipal since April 2007, as Beira-Mar have only just returned to the top flight after a three year absence.

Based in the central city of Aveiro, the club was founded in 1922 and has a modest history.  Their greatest achievement to date is winning the Portuguese cup in 1999 and lifting the league cup in 1965.  The Auri-negros most notable former player is the legendary Eusebio, who played 12 games for the club and scored three goals in 1976/77.  Interestingly they are the last team to record an away victory against a Jose Mourinho team, beating Porto 3-2 in February 2002.

Team News

Oscar Cardozo’s return on Wednesday gives Jorge Jesus a full strength side to choose from, although we will have to wait and see if the Paraguayan is fit enough to start.  It will also be interesting to see if JJ tinkers with the defence, as a reshuffle if more then warranted after the abject performances of the last few weeks.

President Says All Is Well

President Luis Felipe Vieiria has played down rumours that the squad will undergo alterations during the January transfer window.  In a interview with Abola he claimed that the manager “has the team he asked for” and dismissed the vast majority of transfer rumours as pure speculation.  He also denied any the existence of any rift with Jorge Jesus, saying “we still eat dinner together on Sunday”.  Lovely.

Prediction

I’ve not really been doing too well with this predictions, but ever the optimist I’m going to back us for a 1-0 win.

Força Sporting!

Yes you read that correctly and no i haven’t gone mad.  Latter today our city rivals host Porto and if we are going to have a shot at the title we really need Sporting to take at least a point.  Let’s face it this is one of the few fixtures where Porto could realistically drop points and we should all side with the lesser of two evils and cheer on the Leoes.

Well this season just gets better doesn’t it?

Just a few weeks after our drubbing in Porto, which has left the title as little more then a pipe dream, a combination of this embarrassing defeat and Schalke’s victory over Lyon has sent us crashing out of the Champions League and leaves the side desperately searching for something to aim for in a season which is only a few months old.

You could argue that last night the team was simply unlucky, we had more possession, more shots and more corners (21 to 2!) then our opponents and still contrived to lose 3-0.  However, luck only gets you so far at this level and much the same as the defeat in Porto, our inadequacies had more bearing on the game then the strengths of the opposition. Thus Jorge Jesus has some serious thinking to do if he is to salvage anything from this nightmare start to the season.

Early promise fades

Oscar Cardozo was only fit for the bench, in what was otherwise a full strength side.  Jorge Jesus showed his attacking intentions by fielding the Argentinian trio of Aimar, Gaitan and Salvio behind Javier Saviola and Alan Kardec.  To begin with things looked promising as the side made a very bright start.  Dominating possession, the side was playing the kind of slick passing football we expect of Benfica, with Aimar and Saviola demonstrating their almost psychic understanding.  However, despite creating some reasonable chances we were unable to break the deadlock and instead it was Hapoel who took the lead on 26 minutes through a routine set piece.

It was a goal David Luiz would like to forget, as sideshow Bob first conceded the offending free kick before seeing Eran Zahavi’s header deflect off his curly locks and into the back of the net.   Despite this setback we should have been level shortly afterwards had Alan Kardec not spurned a glorious opportunity. Some delightful link up play from Fabio Coentrao and Gaitan gifted the Brazilian with a free shot on goal, which he promptly but wide in a fit of composure-less glory.

Oscar returns to no avail

Countless number of us Benfiquistas couldn’t help but wonder how different things might have been had Oscar Cardozo been on the end of that chance, and in the second half we got the chance to find out, as the Paraguayan replaced the largely disappointing Saviola at half time.   Despite dominating possession once again, we struggled to breakdown the stubborn Israelis and on those occasions when we did every chance seemed to fall to Kardec, whose complete lack of composure would have put Gillian Mcketith to shame.

Striving to compete with Kardec for flop of the day, David Luiz and Javi Garcia made a complete mess of defending a Hapoel corner (their first of the game, some 74 minutes in) and allowed Douglas Da Silva to make it 2-0.  At this point it was clear the game had slipped from our grasp and Zahavi rubbed salt into out wounds by grabbing a third following a quick counter.  With Schalke beating Lyon 3-0 we are out of the competition and must now try and fend of Hapoel for the consolation of a Europa League place.  It is mathematically possible to catch Lyon, but as many of us feared at the time, the foolish late goals we conceded in our 4-3 victory over the French side have come back to haunt us, as they give Les Gones a superior head to head record.

What have we learnt

Following the game Pablo Aimar commented that ‘nothing is going right’ and he is correct.  But rather then wallow in self pity, the team needs to analyse its failings and act upon them if we are to salvage this season.

• The defence needs to improve big time.  Hapoel barley entered our half, yet still scored three times, I dread to think what would happen against a team that could actually attack.
• Saviola needs to start scoring.  The little rabbit hasn’t hit the net in over month and with Cardozo’s absence we have really missed his goals.  Hopefully Oscar’s return will ease the pressure and get the Argentinian back in form.
• Our away form needs sorting.  It always amazes me how football teams filled with talented players can be stifled by the the simple challenge of playing away from home, but it happens.  We have lost all of our away games in Europe this season and you just can’t afford to do that if you want to make progress.  Just how you remedy this I don’t know, but we can’t let it go on.
• The Europa League has to be top priority now.  This is a winnable competition and we should go all out to get as far as possible.  Mind you we have to get there first….

For all the latest Benfica news and discussion in English visit www.planetbenfica.net

The Situation

1. Lyon     9    
2. Schalke  7
3. Benfica  6
4. Hapoel  1

First things first  I can safely say that my mind is becoming a little boggled trying to figure out all of the possible scenarios which could occur in this most tight of groups. Currently sitting a point behind Schalke, we need a minimum of three points from the remaining two games to progress into the last 16.  Ideally we will secure those three points in this fixture, meaning we go into the final game with Schalke with our destiny in our own hands.  Indeed, if we beat Hapoel and Lyon beat Schalke a draw against the Germans would be enough.  The worst case scenario sees us fail to win and Schalke beat Lyon, making our chances of progression almost impossible. But enough of this hypothesising, let’s just focus on getting the best possible result in Isreal and taking things from there.

The Opponent

Hapoel are the reigning Israeli Champions and are the Middle Eastern nation’s second most successful club after city cousins Maccabi Tel Aviv.  Founded in 1927 they have won 13 Israeli titles, but have found European success hard to come by.  Indeed, this is the first time the Red Demons have qualified for the group stages and the club’s most successful European adventure came in 2002 when they reached the Uefa Cup quarter finals.  The Israeli club’s most recognisable player is probably goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama, who represented Nigeria at the 2010 World Cup.

On a political level Hapoel have close links with Israel’s left wing and reject the nationalistic sentiments displayed by several of the countries’ other clubs.

History

Benfica’s 2-0 victory in September was the first time these two clubs had locked horns and we have faced Israeli opposition only once before, beating Beitar Jerusalem 8-4 over two legs in the 1998/99 Champions League qualifiers.  Our away record in European competition is a little mixed at the moment.  We have lost on our last three trips away from Portugal (Lyon, Schalke and Liverpool), but have picked up impressive wins at Marseille, Everton and BATE Borisov within the last 12 months.

Team News 

With no league action last week the players have enjoyed a nice little rest and the squad is virtually at full strength.  Most importantly Oscar Cardozo is finally back!  Just how fit the Paraguayan is remains to be seen, but his return can only boost our chances.  The only noticeable absentee is Airton who is kept out by a minor injury.

Prediction

We simply have to win this one if we are to have a realistic chance of making the next round, and hopefully that will inspire the players.  The Hapoel fans will generate an intimidating atmosphere, but hopefully our quality will shine through with a 2-1 victory.

Age: 22, Position: Attacking Midfield,  Nationality: Argentinian, Former Clubs: Boca Juniors

The hero of Sunday’s 4-0 victory over Naval was undoubtedly Nicolas Gaitan who grabbed his first Liga Sagres goals with an expertly taken brace, thus i thought it would be interesting to take a closer look at the man signed to replace Angel Di Maria.

History

Born into a poor Buenos Aires family, a young Gaitan divided his time between playing football and selling plants to commuters on trains to help support his family.  This selflessness paid of and in June 2008 the attacking midfielder made his league debut for Boca Juniors in a 3-1 win over Arsenal De Sarandi.  After coming from the bench to score twice in a 3-0 victory over Huracan, Gaitan quickly established himself as key member of Los Xeneizes’  first eleven, making 63 appearances and scoring 13 goals in just two years. 

These performances did not go unnoticed, and after receiving praise from Boca legend and teammate  Martin Palermo, Maradonna took notice and summoned Gaitan to the Argentina squad for the September 2009 friendly with Gahna.  Appearing as a substitute the youngster obviously made an impression as he made the starting eleven for a friendly with Costa Rica in January 2010.

As with all promising South Americans, Gaitan began to attract interest from European clubs and both Spanish side Almeria and Ajax are said to have made offers for his services.  However, it was Benfica’s bid of around £8 million which prised the youngster away from his homeland and made him the third most expensive signing in the clubs history. 

 Big Boots to Fill

 This summer’s transfer campaign was dominated by departures rather then arrivals and with Di Maria and Ramires leaving Lisbon for pastures new Gaitan’s arrival  received little immediate attention.  However, once the dust had settled the eyes of Benfiquistas  quickly turned towards their new signing who not only had a hefty price tag to live up to, but had to prove he was worthy of succeeding Di Maria on the left flank and so far I would argue he is doing a decent job.

Yes he may not have exactly set the world alight, but the 22 year old has shown enough to suggest he has a bright future in Lisboa.  The brace against Naval demonstrates that this is a player who knows how to put the ball in the net and only Carlos Martins and Javier Saviola have provided the team with more assists.  

Nicolas is welcomed into the Benfro brigade

In truth Gaitan was always going to suffer from comparisons with Di Maria, but their playing styles are actually quite different.  While Di Maria was more of a traditional winger who thrived on mazy dribbles and beating his fullback, Gaitan is more of play maker in the Pablo Aimar mold.  A fine passer of the ball he can operate on the flank, in the centre and even as a second striker and in that respect he offers a greater level of tactical flexibility then Di Maria.   Indeed, several sources have compared the Argentinian to David Silva and if he can come close to matching the Spaniard’s ability we have a gem on our hands.

 We can all hope that Sunday’s performance was the beginning of a beautiful relationship between Benfica and Gaitan and we can look forward to seeing the Argentine develop as he becomes more accustomed to Portuguese football.  However, we should also be patient, after all even Di Maria himself required a little adjustment time before showing his true colours.

It was international night yesterday evening, but suprisingly only three Benfiquistas were called into action by their respective nations, anyhow I thought I’d still provide a brief summary of how they got on. 

There is no better place to start then Portugal’s 4-0 annihilation of world champions and Iberian rivals Spain.  The friendly was intended as a show of solidarity to boost the profile of the nations’ joint World Cup bid, but there was no friendship on the pitch as the Selecção destroyed the Spaniards.   Carlos Martins was the only Benfiquista on display, but he certainly made his presence felt with a well taken goal to open the scoring.  Yes it was only a friendly, but they don’t come much better then this!

The biggest game of the night was the clash between Argentina and Brazil and it was the latter who emerged victorious thanks to a late strike from Lionel Messi.  David Luiz played the full 90 minutes for the Brazilians and could be pleased with his performance even if he did end up on the losing side.   Meanwhile Maxi Perreria could not not prevent Uruguay from slipping to a 2-0 defeat against South American rivals Chile.

In all honesty it was proabbly a good thing so few of our players were involved in these ultimately pointless games, helping to keep injuries at a minimum ahead of the trip to Israel on Wednesday evening.

We wanted a convincing win and in the end that’s what we got, although lady luck did have to play her part. 

Touch wood

A combination of suspensions and injuries saw Jorge Jesus make a number of adjustments to the team that had faced Porto, with Javier Saviola, Nicolas Gaitan, Ruben Amorim and Airton all making the first eleven.   Despite this it was bottom placed Naval who made the brighter start, Fabio Junior forcing a good save from Roberto after just five minutes.   However, Benfica took the lead, admittedly a little against the run of play, with just over ten minutes gone.  Salvio picked out Saviola with a fine cross and the Argentine squared the ball for an unmarked Alan Kardec to finish with ease.  The defending was slack but we had the lead and that’s all that mattered.

At this point you might have expected Naval’s heads to drop, but the boys in green were desperately unlucky not to equalise as some fierce shooting saw them strike the post not once but twice.  They were also performing above expectations at the other end as keeper Romain Salin twice denied Pablo Aimar and kept out an effort from Salvio.

Gaitan gets of the mark

At half time we could be forgiven for feeling a little uneasy, yes we had the lead, but the performance had hardly been convincing.  However, such fears were quickly laid to rest as just two minutes after the restart Gaitan smashed home a second goal which paved the way for a entirely one sided 45 minutes.   Salin had once again denied Aimar, but the French goalkeeper was powerless as Gaitan lashed home the rebound from just outside the box. 

It was the summer signing’s first league goal since joining the club from Boca Juniors and he soon grabbed a second, converting Salvio’s cross with a fine left footed volley on the hour.  In truth the second goal had crushed Naval’s resitance and the Aguias cruised to victory, with late substitute Nuno Gomes adding a fourth after taking advantage of a sloppy back pass and dispossessing Slain.  It was great to see the veteran back on the score sheet and the emotion on the 34 year old’s face was plain to see as he dedicated the strike to his late father.

What this means

Victories for Porto and Guimaraes mean we remain in joint second, ten points off the lead and while this was a pleasing victory it is one of no real significance as we would have been disappointed with anything less.  The team looked much more dangerous in attack with the return to two strikers up front and some of the link up play between the Argentinian quartet of Aimar, Gaitan, Saviola and Salvio suggests that a strong understanding may be taking shape.  However, the defending was still suspect at times and was described by Jesus himself as ’suspicous’, with tougher opposition to come this is something he can not afford to ignore.

There is no Liga Sagres action next weekend so the squad have a lovely ten days rest before jetting off to Tel-Aviv for that all important Champions League clash next Wednesday.

Player ratings

Roberto 6.5

Coentrao 6.5

Luiz 6.5

Sidnei 6.5

Amorim 6.5

Airton 6.5

Aimar 7.5

Salvio 7.5

Gaitan 8

Saviola 7

Kardec 7

Apologies for this post being a little late, I’ve been very busy this week and this is the first chance I’ve had to get writing.  Before we look at tomorrows clash with Naval, it is worth mentioning that Benfica defeated the Angolan national team 2-0 in a friendly to mark the 35th anniversary of the African nations independence on Wednesday evening .   Jorge Jesus fielded a surprisingly strong side and goals from Franco Jara and Pablo Aimar secured victory for the Aguias. 

Returning to this weekend’s action the squad host bottom of the table Naval in what would appear to the perfect chance to pick ourselves up following the debacle in Porto. 

History

We’ve won our last seven games against Naval and anything less then a victory, preferably a convincing one, would be nothing short of a disaster considering the Figueira da Foz based side are currently bottom of the table with just one win to their name.

Form

Benfica’s form requires no introduction, the capitulation in Porto wiping out the improvements we had made in previous weeks.  Naval however are even worse, the central minnows are without a win in their last eight fixtures and already look like favourites for relegation.

Team News

Four regulars are likely to miss this clash, Luisao, Maxi Pereria and Carlos Martins will definitely be absent as they all face a one game suspension, while Oscar Cardozo is unlikely to have recovered from his twisted knee in time.  Sidnei will most likely replace Luisao while Javier Savioa will hopefully return to the starting eleven.

A reason to be cheerful

On paper this is the perfect match for us, a struggling opponent on whom we can take out our frustrations and prepare for Wednesday’s crucial Champions League clash in Israel. 

A reason to be fearful

Naval have nothing to lose and if the squad is still hungover from last week’s result they could pose more problems then anticipated. 

Prediction

Nothing less then a win will do here and I’m going to put my faith in the boys and back them to come out with a comfortable 3-0 victory.

I’ve been thinking about going for a new hair style for a while now and thought to myself why not look to the Benfica squad for inspiration? After all surely every single one of the players who represent  the best club in Portugal must have cool hair right?

After searching through the club photos three players stood out in particular, namely Pablo Aimar, Roderick Miranda and David Luiz, who are all  sporting what I like to call the ‘Benfro’;

The club has dismissed reports that Vitoria the eagle nests in Pablo’s hair.

Yep these three have clearly been eating their crusts, because those luscious locks are about as curly as can be.   If, like me, you are naturally blessed with hair of the curly variety this is an easy style to imitate, simply let your hair grow and you will have a Benfro all of your own.  Those of you have lack the necessary curls do not despair!  Simply borrow your mothers curling tongs, or if that fails stick on a curly brown wig.

Another interesting style is the ‘Nuno’ sported by; you guessed it, Nuno Gomes!  Straight and slick this look obviously works wonders for old Nuno, as his hairstyle doesn’t seem to have changed in the last decade. 

Slick as ever.

Not convinced by the Benfro or Nuno?  Well why not follow the example of Luisao and dispense with hair all together?

 Who needs hair anyway?

So there you have it, it seems that the players of Benfica have a hair cut to suit everyone’s tastes.  As for me, I think I might give the Benfro ago, after all if it turns out badly I can always do a Luisao!