Lisbon, Feb 20 (EFE).- Benfica resets the ‘Champions’ mode to focus on the Portuguese League, with Prestianni suspended, so, before the second leg of the play off for access to the round of 16 of the Champions League at the Bernabéu, they will face AVS this Saturday, a bottom player that only has one victory so far in the championship.
The match will be played at the Reds’ home and the Argentine winger Gianluca Prestianni will not be on the pitch due to an accumulation of cards. Last Tuesday, he became the media focus of the first leg match against Real Madrid, when he was accused of racist insults towards the Brazilian striker Vinicius, so the match, due to the application of the UEFA anti-racism protocol, was stopped for several minutes, while the referee investigated what happened.
Benfica is third in the League, seven points behind the leader, Porto, and for tomorrow’s match Mourinho will be able to count on Colombian international Richard Ríos, who returned against Real Madrid after almost a month out due to injury.
Another coffee grower who should also return to the playing fields this Saturday is Luis Suárez, formerly of Almería and current forward of Sporting (2nd classified, 4 points behind the leader), who will visit the Moreirense field (6th).
Suárez – who has 19 goals in the League – served a suspension for accumulating yellow cards and missed the last round against Famalicão, which Sporting managed to win with a goal on Daniel Bragança’s horn.
For its part, Porto, led by Spaniards Gabri Veiga and Borja Sainz, will host the Rio Ave team (15th) on Sunday.
The influence of Veiga in the midfield and Sainz on the wings could be the key for the ‘dragons’ for the remainder of the season, even more so when they will no longer have the Spanish international forward Samu Aghehowa for the rest of the season, injured in his right knee.
In the first game without Samu, Porto won at the home of Nacional de Madeira with a solitary goal from Jan Bednarek, who celebrated by showing the Spanish international’s shirt.
Matches of the twenty-third day of the Portuguese League:
-Friday
Estrela da Amadora – Tondela
-Saturday
Alverca – Santa Clara
Arouca – Madeira National
Moreirense – Sporting
Benfica – AVS
Braga – Vitória de Guimarães
-Domingo
Estoril – Gil Vicente
Porto – Rio Ave
-Monday
Famalicão – Casa Pia. EFE
(c) EFE Agency
