As in a good Lisbon derby, there was a very intense match at the José Alvalade, with its great goals, its referee controversy and its brawls. This time, the game fell on the side of the green and white, who were much more successful in the final meters. And, of course, those who have Gyokeres, today a player who is a differential factor in Portuguese football. With this match, there are already 31 goals for the Swede this season.
The match began with little precision due to the excessive intensity of both. Sporting managed to fish in that troubled river, taking advantage of poor positioning in the Benfica area, which left several finishers at the far post, only marked by Bah. One of them was Pedro Gonçalves, who opened the scoring without much opposition. Sporting continued looking to increase the score in the same way, hanging balls. Benfica responded by looking for overflow on the wings, but the fact that the locals closed with three centre-backs made the area too hostile.
Benfica began to suffer too much. João Neves had to appear to correct from behind and block a shot from inside the area that looked like a goal. And, on the contrary, Gyokeres scored. The Swede’s 25 years were faster and stronger than Otamendi’s 36, who seemed little less than a youth under the charge of one of the fittest forwards in Europe. He beat Trubbin without too many problems and, with the score at 2-0, Benfica opened up even more, starting to play with fire by playing so many minutes by offering space at the back.
But taking risks sometimes pays off. Aursnes took advantage of a mismatch on the offside line between Coates and Diomandé to finish off one of the crosses that Di María delivers with such great quality in the area. Three minutes later, it was Di María himself who, supported by Kökcu, scored a great goal. But the VAR warned the referee that in Tengstedt, when he was offside, the vision of Israel, Sporting’s starting goalkeeper in the Cup for Adan’s rest, was bothered. Di María had nothing left but to complain unsuccessfully, although with yellow, to the referee. And, in addition, luck returned it with the VAR annulling a goal by Nuno Santos due to Paulinho’s previous offside. Everything is open for the return, but with Sporting with a minimal advantage in Da Luz.
2024-02-29 23:01:27
#VAR #denies #epic #María
