Sunday is a day of novelty at Luz

New year, new life! This is the most heard saying in Portugal after the end of the year.  Well, matchday 16 of the Liga NOS will be an example of this. It marks the first match at 2019 and also marks another novelty: for the first time, Rio Ave is the team that visits Benfica in the new Cathedral in the start of the calendar year.

The Benfiquistas can, on Sunday, at 5:30 pm, fill the stands of Estádio da Luz and welcome the new year and the players now coached by Bruno Lage.

Benfica has an average of 54 355 spectators per match (84% occupancy) in matches from the Liga NOS, being that in the last one – SC Braga – there were nearly 58 thousand fans at the Cathedral. The tickets are on sale in the usual places.

First match of the year at the new Luz

The eagles do well in the first match that they play at home. They won 12 of the 15 matches (an 80% win ratio) and they like to start the new year with good accuracy: they have already scored 45 goals (average of 3 per match) and have only conceded five.

Head to Head at the new Luz

This is the second match between Benfica and Rio Ave in 2018/19, curiously both at Luz. The first one took place in September for the League Cup (2-1 win for Benfica), and now it is time for Liga NOS.

At the new Estádio da Luz, the two clubs have played 14 times, 13 in the National Championship. Unbeatable, the eagles won in 12 occasions and just conceded two draws (2004/05 and 2005/06). With a few rout victories in the record, Benfica count with 43 goals notched between 2003/04 and this current season, and conceded 13.

Text: Marco Rebelo

Pics: Archive / SL Benfica