Personality and quality earned another trophy!

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS

This Wednesday, August 9, Benfica won beat FC Porto by 2-0 and won the 9th Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup in its history. After 45 minutes of balance, the eagles played a second half of high level, largely dominated the match and reached the triumph with goals scored by Di María and Musa.

Welcomed in Aveiro by a sea of red formed by several thousand Benfiquistas, the Glorioso took to the field with an eleven formed by Odysseas, Bah, António Silva, Otamendi, Mihailo, João Neves, Kökcü, Di María, Aursnes, João Mário and Rafa.

Benfica's first shot came in the 18th minute. Kökcü recovered the ball in the opponent's half and served João Mário, who shot from a distance over the crossbar. Looser and with more possession, Roger Schmidt's side grew into the game and had their first shot on target in the 27th minute: Bah cleared the ball with his head and it fell to Kökcü, who dribbled several opponents before taking a left-footed shot to Diogo Costa's tight save.

Aursnes responded to a long ball in the 29th minute, beat Zaidu with his head and isolated Rafa, with the assistant immediately invalidating the play for an irregular position of the Red forward, a play that left doubts. In the next play, Otamendi and then António Silva made decisive clearances that prevented Galeno from finishing inside the Benfica box.

On the half-hour mark, Di María began to receive more balls in front of his opponent and did damage with his keen technique: in the 31st minute he set up Rafa, who could not get past Pepe, and in the 34th minute it was Marcano who cleared a dangerous cross from the Argentinian for a corner.

Before the break, FC Porto created one of their last chances of the game. In the 41st minute, following a corner won after Eustáquio had controlled the ball with his left arm, Otávio crossed into the area and Namaso fired a header wide.

On his return from the dressing room, Roger Schmidt replaced Mihailo and João Mário (both on yellow cards) with Jurásek and Musa. Aursnes drifted from the central corridor to the left side and Rafa to the back of the Croatian striker, who became the reds' offensive reference.

The tone was set for a second half of Benfica's dominance, as they put great intensity into the match and pushed their opponents into their area. In the 58th minute, Di María combined well with Musa and the latter advanced to the edge of the box, where he shot against the Blue and White defensive wall. Two minutes later, João Neves stole the ball from Eustáquio in the opponent's half and served Di María, who shot for an easy save from Diogo Costa.

The eagles' goal was in sight, and it came in the 61st minute. After stealing the ball in FC Porto's first phase of build-up, Kökcü immediately served Di María, who made a good reception and shot for 1-0. A goal that was scored by two of the reds' new signings for 2023/24.

Sérgio Conceição responded to the disadvantage, in the 65th minute, with the entries of Toni Martínez and Romário Baró for Namaso and Eustáquio, but could not counter Benfica's dominance, who continued to press in search of extending the lead and saw their ambition crowned in the 68th minute. Following two duels won, first by João Neves and then by Musa over Pepe, Rafa got the ball and tore down the right before crossing for the Croatian, who made it 2-0 with a well-placed shot.

Responding to the substitution of João Mário for Grujic (69'), Roger Schmidt refreshed the midfield with the entries of Florentino for Kökcü (70') and Chiquinho for João Neves (75'). With their foot on the gas, Benfica came close to scoring the 3-0 in the 77th minute: first, Aursnes saw his shot blocked by Marcano and, on the rebound, Di María fired over the crossbar.

Taking advantage of the opponent's offensive momentum, Benfica continued to exploit quick transitions and, in the 87th minute, a slight touch from Pepe deflected a shot from Rafa that was bound for goal: the ball still grazed the right post of the Portista goal.

In the final minute of regulation time, Pepe hit Jurásek's right buttock with a knee. Alerted by the VAR, Luís Godinho reviewed the images and considered that the central defender had assaulted the Benfica player, sending him off with a straight red card. The video referee came into play again in the 90'+2' minute when he spotted Gonçalo Borges touch the ball with his arm at the start of the play of a goal scored by Galeno that was disallowed.

In the sixth minute of stoppage time, Benfica had their last chance to score: Diogo Costa stopped shots from Rafa and Musa in the same play, with two great interventions. In the following minute, the FC Porto coach was sent off for protesting a foul suffered by Di María and refused to leave the field, a situation that lasted four minutes and stretched the game to 90'+16'. Before the final whistle and the red celebration, Schjelderup also replaced Di María in the 90'+12'.

Having won the Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, Roger Schmidt's team will return to the pitch next Monday, August 14. The Liga Betclic 1st round clash will be played at Estádio do Bessa and is scheduled for 8:45 pm.