One must have achieved such a high status to be honored with a statue while alive. For all the good he did for the Argentine national team and beyond, Di María must have already ensured that some sculptor hammers Fideo's features into a piece of marble. When the artist starts to look into this subject, give him the image of the bicycle kick goal he scored against Estrela da Amadora. Certainly, levitating a few kilos of stone will be a miracle that the gods will be happy to grant to one of their partners.
Di María brought to Earth, on the day of the Portuguese Cup, a kind of Web Summit of thaumaturgical acts, where most problems can be solved using artificial intelligence, which seems to have been an invention from 1988, when the Albiceleste prodigy. With 18 minutes of the clock running, there were already three goals from the winger in Estrela da Amadora's goal.
They can say that it's over, that age has sucked away football's nutrients. They will be nothing more than unfounded considerations without empirical proof. It is normal that time has changed it, but timing will not dictate its usefulness. If Di María doesn't get tired of giving others what he himself, sitting on the couch as a spectator, is unable to see in anyone else, the Argentine will be guaranteed a place in a context of excellence.
Gualter Fatia
The winger's brilliant entry into the game facilitated Benfica's passage to the next round of the Portuguese Cup. On the tactical level, Bruno Lage once again coexisted with Álvaro Carreras and Jan-Niklas Beste. The protagonism that this duo usually calls the left corridor, when acting together, was not seen, migrating to the opposite wing. On the right, the Bah-Aursnes-Di María triangle energized the red-black attack and ruined the defensive intentions of Guilherme Montóia and Nilton Varela.
Lage had the luxury of sparing some of the usual starters, using Arthur Cabral and Benjamín Rollheiser to form the attacking front. Kerem Aktürkoğlu, Vangelis Pavlidis and Orkun Kökçü were on the bench. These were not changes that reduced Benfica's offensive. In addition to hat-trick Di María, Carreras and Beste could also have scored in the first half.
However, Benfica was not perfect from a defensive point of view – a sector where António Silva returned to a rare starting role. Samuel Soares, Portugal's World Cup goalkeeper, saw his peace of mind vilified by Rodrigo Pinho and André Luiz.
Gualter Fatia
Di María would not leave the field, in the 65th minute, without adding to the goals the assist for the 4-0 scored by Aktürkoğlu, much more effective than the sloppy Arthur Cabral. The Turk was the first to be released in a batch of apparently scheduled replacements. His compatriot Kökçü followed. Kaboré, right-back who arrived at Luz in the summer, didn't even sit on the bench. Leandro Santos, a 19-year-old player trained at Seixal, occupied the slot left free by the absence of the Burkina Faso international and even had the right to make his debut in Benfica's main team.
Estrela, coached by José Faria, would end up becoming harmless. The fading of the attitude that had once led the Reboleira team to think about leaving Luz with at least one goal scored served as a vitamin supplement for Benfica. Zeki Amdouni piled in behind the line of disbelieving defenders and scored the fifth goal. The Swiss' strike partner, Arthur Cabral, scored the sixth and seventh by being in the right place at the right time. In the round of 16, the Reds face Farense.
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