Series of near misses leaves Eagles empty-handed
Everything was looking so good for Benfica with
only moments to go in the penultimate match of the Portuguese Liga campaign.
The historic Portuguese outfit had gone the
whole season unbeaten in the league until that point from 28 games played, but
so too had their closest challengers FC Porto. A win for either side would banish
the other into second place with just one game remaining.
The
Eagles from Lisbon had a point seemingly in the
bag at the home of their title rivals in that high pressure fixture, when the Estádio do Dragão erupted two minutes into injury-time thanks to a
winning goal from Porto midfielder Kelvin.
Benfica had led through Lima after his strike
on 19 minutes, but were pegged back by a Maxi Pereira own goal six minutes
later. Even so, a point would’ve kept Benfica clear at the top and ensured they
had the destiny of the championship firmly in their own hands.
Porto’s stoppage time stunner put paid to all
of that and the visiting team sunk to their knees in despair when the ball hit
the back of the net. They knew only too well that it put Porto in control with
both clubs likely to win their final outings.
This set in motion a chain of events that saw
the piece-by-piece demolition of their season take place right before them.
After the huge blow of defeat in Oporto, the
UEFA Europa League final came quickly over the horizon and Chelsea lay in wait.
Fernando Torres nudged the Londoners ahead, but a penalty from Oscar Cardozo
soon tied the scores at 1-1. Benfica were troubling Chelsea and the Lisbon
giants looked capable of causing an upset in Amsterdam. However, another
injury-time sickener befell them in the form of a headed winner from rock-solid
Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic.
The despair in the Benfica players’ faces was
glaringly evident at the final whistle and within 5 days all of their hard work
had been wasted. This was followed up by an expectedly easy 3-1 victory against
Moreirense, while Porto went to Paços Ferreira and won 2-0 to claim the
league crown by a point from their great rivals.
Still, one last avenue was open to the now shattered
Benfica with the Taça
de Portugal (Portugal Cup) final left to play.
Head
coach Jorge Jesus took his men to the Estádio do Jamor, in Oeiras near Lisbon,
determined to at least lift the trophy from the ruins of the campaign that lay scattered
around them. Vitória Guimarães, the team that had finished ninth in the
league and a massive 37 points adrift of runners-up Benfica, came into the tie
as virtual no-hopers and went behind after half-an-hour with a goal from the Argentine Gaitán.
The
Vitória fans were out to have a fantastic day no matter what and falling behind
failed to dampen their spirits. Not in their wildest dreams did they believe
that their beloved team could claw things back, but that’s exactly what they
did.
With
time ticking down, Vitória Guimarães equalised ten minutes from the end of
proceedings through Soudani. The minnows followed that up with another from the
boot of Ricardo only two minutes later and Benfica were done and dusted. It was
too much heartache for The Eagles to take and they simply
couldn’t rally sufficiently to get back into the contest. Meanwhile, star
striker Cardozo appeared to shove his manager Jorge Jesus as he left the
playing field, a gesture that he quickly apologised for in the dressing-room
afterwards.
The
spectacular implosion of a once-promising season has left all those linked with
the club utterly shell-shocked and it remains to be seen how many players will
be ready to give it another try next season. A few may feel the need for a
fresh start and that could see several star names leaving Lisbon this summer
for pastures new.
Having signed a new two-year deal today, it’ll
be interesting to see how head coach Jorge Jesus galvanises his squad and
finds his own motivation in an attempt to put Benfica back on top of Portuguese
football once again.
Twitter: @davewh1980
Facebook: facebook.com/DLWSports
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