It’s starting to become a tradition: Roger Schmidt and the Benfica squad left Minho to boos, with white handkerchiefs thrown in, after yet another impressive defeat in the championship. It was a draw at Moreirense (1-1), except for a penalty in injury time, which proves that the 2024-25 version is just the agonizing extension of the shadow of a title contender who played a good part of the previous season.
Let’s be clear: this was perhaps the least stellar performance by the “reds” so far. The full-backs were deep, with a lot of people in the interior, there were occasional touches of individual magic (Di María or Kokçu) and more presence in the opposition area than usual. It was still not enough, by a large margin, to dismantle the defensive organisation of a Moreirense team that knew how to wait for the right moments to exploit transitions.
It is clear that, even in the moments when Benfica creates imbalances, things do not flow. The accuracy rate of the full-backs in crosses is poor, timing The forwards’ ability to run forward is not respected, and short combinations occur at a rate of three or four per game. It is little, very little for a title contender, which is starting to be embarrassingly easy to nullify for any team that is capable of filling the central corridor.
The start of the first half and the beginning of the second still showed some initiative, with Kokçu and Di María inside in the usual 4x2x3x1, with two Siamese midfielders (Leandro and Florentino), and Pavlidis trying to combine with his back to the goal or asking for the ball in space. There were shots on 1′ (Kokçu), 5′ (Di María), 15′ (Di María) and little more.
In return, Moreirense responded by putting Madson face-to-face with Trubin, exposing Benfica’s tremendous weaknesses in defensive transition, and by scoring a goal, after a poor pass from António Silva, who was preparing to make it 1-0 before half-time. The move was eventually disallowed for a foul on Leandro Barreiro, after the video referee’s signal, but it served to heighten the unease of the “encarnados” fans, the vast majority of whom were in the stands.
Roger Schmidt decided to bring on Renato Sanches right after the restart (Florentino came off) and the team gained more power in the middle and more ability to vary the centre of the game. He came close to scoring in the 51st minute, with the best combination of the match (Pavlidis, Di María, Prestianni), with the Greek shooting straight at goal; and in the 53rd minute, with Di María failing to capitalise on one of the very rare crosses that Álvaro Carreras delivered well.
Lots of possession, lots of volume, but no foresight in the final third. And throwing Marcos Leonardo, Arthur Cabral and even João Rego onto the pitch, looking for a chance opportunity, also didn’t help to create a path to Kewin’s goal, who continued to be comfortable, even in set pieces – a dimension of the game in which the “Eagles” are completely ineffective.
In this context, and with the risk increasing, there was fertile ground for Moreirense to try their luck. And it arrived in the 84th minute, when a misplaced pass from Carreras opened the way for Ofori, whose shot was deflected off António Silva to surprise Trubin.
All that was left was to keep insisting, even if without lucidity, and the repeated visits to the Minho area resulted in a penalty (for a foul on Barreiro) that Marcos Leonardo converted, in the 90+7′ minute, despite the vehement protests of the home players. A relief? No, just an aspirin applied to cure a deep depression.
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