Liga Bwin: X-ray of the Benfica-GD Chaves match

Benfica and GD Chaves will face each other at Estádio da Luz this Saturday, October 29, at 6 pm, on matchday 11 of the Liga Bwin.

Both teams are coming from triumphs in the Championship. The eagles won the clássico away at FC Porto (0-1) and Chaves beat Gil Vicente in Trás-os-Montes, by 3-1.

This will be a clash between the League leader, with 28 points and no losses in official matches in2022/23, and 10th place, with 15 points, but has three of the four wins in the Liga Bwin as the away team, two of which were in the Sporting and SC Braga home grounds.

Officially, the two teams have locked horns on 35 occasions, and Benfica dominates with 28 wins (80%) against GD Chaves' three wins. 

In addition to occupying the highest place in the standings, Benfica comes into this match with a record of 16 wins and four draws in 20 matches in all competitions, and coach Roger Schmidt fielded the starting XI in 4x2x3x1 in the clássico: Odysseas, Bah, António Silva, Otamendi, Grimaldo, Florentino, Enzo, Aursnes, João Mário, Rafa and Gonçalo Ramos.

GD Chaves, in 4x3x3, saw Vítor Campelos launch, against Gil Vicente, the following players: Paulo Vítor, João Correia, Nélson Monte, Steven Vitória, Sandro Cruz, João Mendes, João Teixeira, Ricardo Guima, Héctor Hernández, Abass, and Jonny Arriba.

Analyzing Benfica and GD Chaves' participation in this edition of Liga Bwin, and relying on Wyscout's statistics, one can see several reasons for the reds' leadership. It is the team with the least goals conceded and the least shots conceded to the opponents and tops the charts in ball possession, crosses, corner kicks, passes, key passes, and passes into the last third.

In addition to the best defense in the competition, with only five goals conceded, Benfica is one of the best attacks, with 24 goals (2.4 per game). Added to this are 67.3% ball possession, 219 crosses taken (19.9 per match, 32% accuracy), 7.43 corner kicks every 90 minutes, 52 shots conceded to opposing teams, 6391 complete passes (an average of 579 per match, 88% effectiveness), 68 key passes, and 776 passes into the final third (70 per match, 79% accuracy).

CD Chaves has 11 goals scored and 10 conceded; is also one of the teams with the lowest percentage of ball possession (44.3%) and one of the teams that concede the most shots to opponents (160). However, when it comes to shooting, it is only surpassed by the top four Benfica, FC Porto, SC Braga, and Sporting, with 139 shots.