In the 65th minute of Benfica-Bologna, Vangelis Pavlidis received a gift. The ball, capriciously, was in front of his feet, loose in the area, with the goal available. But there are gifts that can be treacherous, that can hide traps.
The finalization seemed like bureaucracy, but Pavlidis is, these days, Head down, frequently walking around the pitch with that look of a divorced man who has just gone to the notary’s office to sign the papers that strikers do when they don’t make an appointment. He kicked, but a Polish mountain prevented the celebration. It was Skorupski, Bologna’s goalkeeper, the Italian hero of the match.
Bologna, a club from the city where the oldest university in the western world is located, in activity since 1088, arrived in Lisbon to enjoy a little more of this historic participation. He had only been to the elite of European football once, in 1964/65, and at that time he only played two matches.
At Luz, Bologna’s process was based on a football of passes and combinations, of ball possession and good intentions, but of little risk or sense of goal. For some reason, Bologna, with just one goal scored, is the worst attack in this Champions League. He only got out of the challenge with a shot on Trubin’s goal.
The bureaucratic test of the Bologna process constituted a challenge for Benfica in the first half, when the football had few goals. After the rest, the opportunity arose, but the Greek, who is divorced from the goal, didn’t take advantage.
Pavlidis beat Skorupski in the early stages, but he was offside
RODRIGO ANTUNES
The first half started falsely, with a move that would indicate minutes of football close to the goals, of danger, a promise that was not fulfilled. The match had not yet been played for two minutes and Di María had already stolen a ball near the Italians’ area, serving Pavlidis. The Greek made one of his best finishes for Benfica, a subtle deflection, avoiding Skorupski’s exit. Exam passed.
Unfortunately for Vangelis, the shot didn’t count, because the attacker was advanced. More than 60 minutes later, Pavlidis would again have a sovereign chance. He was in the game, but, with everything to score, he was unable to overcome Skorupski. The ex-AZ Alkmaar would come up blank, as happened in 15 of the 20 challenges for the Eagles.
The mistake of that first moment materialized in the following minutes. The match was played far from goal, with only one shot taken during the opening half. It was after the break, in a move in which Álvaro Carreras passed two classy opponents and crossed for Di María to shoot first time, one of those dry and powerful volleys from the Argentine. Skorupski defended.
Between Pavlidis’ disallowed goal and the only shot that counted until half-time, the game was largely a sequence of Bologna possessions, particularly in the first 25′. You rossoblù they reached this stage of Lisbon’s cold night with 67% possession. Only the trio of visiting midfielders — Ferguson, Moro and Fabbian — had, together, more than half of the passes (47) than the entire Benfica team combined (88).
However, Bologna’s only dangerous move until the break came in the 10th minute, when Thijs Dallinga, another striker divorced from the goal, was unable to get around Trubin after a quick attack. The Dutchman, who has yet to score in 17 appearances with the club from the Italian student city, would have the first chance after the restart, taking the number of shots taken by the visitors from zero. Trubin defended.
Bologna, the city, is known for being the learned, the fat, the red. The erudite one, because of the university, the fat one, because of the city’s well-known cuisine, and the red one, because of the color of the buildings and political preferences. Well, on the night in Lisbon, we saw elaborate football, yes, but not fat on occasions and, well, the uniforms weren’t exactly red, because those were on the other side.
MIGUEL A. LOPES
The duel was for goalkeepers alienated from the goal, so then it was Pavlidis’ turn and that move in the 65th minute. What should have been a gift was a symptom of the lack of effectiveness of the Greek, which would be replaced shortly afterwards, with the same air of sadness with which students walk the streets of Bologna after failing an exam, anxious for the moment when they will have to Call your parents and tell them what happened.
At 72′, a new sub-game began, a kind of third half. Bologna made four changes at once, while Lage released Amdouni and Beste. Benfica pushed at the end of the match, but without success.
In the 79th minute, Di María shot in a good position, but Ferguson cut it. Then, towards the end, Amdouni targeted the visitors’ goal in two situations, but found Poland’s poor concentration of talent: if the country Had he distributed the training of quality players better over the last decade, not concentrating it just on goalkeepers, Lewandowski would have been a happier man. There is always a Szczesny, a Fabianski or a Skorupski. The latter put on a great performance at Luz, blocking both attacks from the Swiss.
The university visit to Luz continued Benfica’s bad habit. In the last seven home games in the Champions League, he has won just one. Bologna’s examination, in this new Champions League that changes the rules of the game as the Bologna Process changed them, was null and void. Benfica is 15th in the table.
