Benfica off the mark with 3-0 victory at home to Casa Pia
Benfica 3-0 Casa Pia
Benfica have gotten their season off the floor after defeating Casa Pia 3-0 this Saturday with three second-half goals at the Estádio da Luz.
The two sides exchanged blows in a tight first period, leaving the fans demanding more from their team coming into the second half.
Roger Schmidt introduced Tiago Gouveia into the encounter who, after 15 minutes, swung the game massively in Benfica’s favour with a goal and an assist to make it 2-0. Fredrik Aursnes landed a third goal for the Eagles, securing their first win of the Primeira Liga season.
David Neres’ omission continued to dominate the talk around a Benfica XI that saw just one change made from the team that lost 2-0 to Famalicão, as António Silva made his first start in place of Morato.
The two Lisbon outfits exchanged efforts early on as Gianluca Prestianni scuffed a shot wide three minutes in, just moments before Nuno Moreira volleyed at goal at the other end, forcing a save out of Benfica’s Anatoliy Trubin.
In the 25th minute, it was Patrick Sequeira who was made to work as João Mário tried his luck from range with a shot beaten away successfully by the goalkeeper.
The best chance of the half fell to Casa Pia’s Samuel Obeng, but the Ghanaian centre forward lacked the accuracy with his head to trouble Trubin from Gaizka Larrazabal’s dangerous cross.
With the scores locked at 0-0, Prestianni looked to tip the balance in the second half from an Alexander Bah cut-back in the 52nd minute, but again Sequeira was alert with another key stop.
The Costa Rican looked beaten on the hour-mark after Pavlidis rose highest from a corner, but the Greek’s near-post header roamed just wide of the target.
Benfica’s new signing wouldn’t let a second opportunity go by, however, attacking an in-swinging cross from Gouveia to head at goal, this time from the back post, to place the hosts ahead for the first time this season.
Nuno Moreira could and should’ve equalised for Casa Pia with a diving header before Gouveia inverted the roles for himself by grabbing a decisive second goal for Schmidt’s men, pouncing onto a loose ball inside the box that would be finished first time.
Aursnes settled the game in the 90th minute with goal number three for Benfica, shooting across goal with excellence to secure an all-important first victory of the season for the Eagles.
By Patrick Ribeiro
Benfica XI: Anatoliy Trubin - Jan-Niklas Beste, António Silva, Tiago Araujo, Alexander Bah - Leandro Barreiro, Florentino Luis - Fredrik Aursnes, Gianluca Prestianni, João Mário - Vangelis Pavlidis
Casa Pia XI: Patrick Sequeira - Nermin Zolotic, José Fonte, João Goulart - Leonardo Lelo, Pablo Roberto, Beni, Miguel Sousa, Gaizka Larrazabal - Nuno Moreira, Samuel Obeng