The success of an uneasy eagle is between what Aursnes is and what Otamendi shows (the Chronicle of Estoril-Benfica)-Observer

One, two, three. We arrived at the final three battles of this edition of the National Championship. Before the presumably decisive derby of Lisbon, Benfica and Sporting had to confirm their favoritism in two more complicated and important matches. In the case of eagles, the title accounts did not leave the Portuguese capital, with Bruno Lage’s team to have a short trip to the mulberry, to measure forces with Ian Cathro’s quiet Estoril. The incarnates entered the field in good shape, having given points only in one of the last 12 days. At the last meeting, Benfica returned to Luz after a draw against Arouca (2-2) and tried to resolve his mission early, eventually thrashing AVS (6-0).

Pavlidis, the commander of a Daredevil Flight of the Royal Eagle who only slows down at Benfica-AVS chronicle (39)

“I hope a very motivated Estoril due to the outcome of the last game, we have to be focused because it will be a difficult game. We have to be committed to this game, which is not decisive. Certainly to the week I will say something else, but we have to be focused on Estoril. Given the available players, we make the choices and define the strategy depending on the moments of the players and the way they pass what we say to the field. Derby? We look at the future and what matters most is tomorrow’s game [sábado]. We have to look, understand the game and realize how we will win. One thing I’m sure, it’s not these four games that define if I’m better or worst coach. They can define if we have more or less titles. What I can say is that we all have the ambition to do things well. To get there, we have to be confident to win to Estoril, which will be an important and difficult game for us, ”said Lage at the press conference before playing in some individualities.

“Bruma? Aktürkoglu is also at a great time. The January market was important and allowed us to be in the position we are. Bruma has been important, with goals and assists, but what we sought was greater internal competitiveness, and now Aktürkoglu is very well due to this competitiveness. I like it because it is important to the team. Bruma is working well for, when called, helping the team. Schjelderup? The conversation I had with him was not hard. The criticisms were. The conversation was reliable and that I still trust him a lot. We can’t play with everyone. The wings are hugely quality players who interpret each of them the game differently. We have some that play better lines, others in counterattack and we have to decide who starts and who can help the team and continue the work in the game, ”he added.

Despite the incarnate favoritism, the storists entered the field to live a quiet phase, after having already confirmed maintenance in the first league. Still, Cathro assured that his team was going to do his best to lock Benfica, even without the important contribution of Wagner Pina and Jordan Holsgrove, who were suspended. “I think it’s hard to play against Estoril. The most important thing to me is the goals. We do not want to live in a world with maintenance. We want to grow, not at one time, but from time to time. They are our goals and with time, in the medium and long term. We got a first step, which was to secure the top ten. After one goal, you go to bed, wake up and start trying another. The game will be 95/96 minutes and we want to try to win every minute of the game. It will be difficult, but we want to improve and this is the focus. We will only end when the referee whistles, ”anticipated the Scottish.

How to expect, Florentino Luís returned to eleven Bruno Lage, but the Setubalense coach chose to leave Ángel di María in the bench, Keeping Zoki Amdouni in the attack. With the entrance of the Portuguese midfielder, Samuel Dahl lowered to the left side of the defense. Ian Cathro was already for the two forced changes in his team, with Pedro Carvalho and Jandro Orellana entering the places of Pina and Holsgrove. As might be expected, Benfica came in with more ball and trying to explore the central space granted by a very climbed Estoril on the ground. This is how the first occasion of the match came, with Fredrik Aursnes appearing alone inside the area, but allowing the defense of Joel Robles (5 ′). In the next move the recipe was repeated, Nico Otamendi hit Long in Vangelis Pavlidis, who cunned up to Kerem Aktürkoglu, who in turn touched Orkun Kökçü. The Turkish midfielder made a passage to the defense to the Norwegian who, this time, threw to tell the inaugural goal (7 ′).

From then on, the incarnates remained on top, but they dropped the rhythm of the game, with Estoril to continue climbing on the playing and sinning in the defensive transition. The first raid of the storists happened near the 30th minute, with João Carvalho attacking the space between Florentino and the defensive line, but ended up not disturbing Anatoliy Trubin’s goal that had no work in the first 45 minutes. On the other hand, Estoril began to improve without ball and make it difficult to build eagles. Shortly thereafter, Dahl took charge of a free one on the right and raised the ball to the small area, Robles left the goal and Otamendi, already in imbalance and after winning the front of Pedro Álvaro, headed for the second goal (35 ′). In this way, Benfica reached the break quietly in advantage (0-2).

With no news for the complementary stage, the red and whites came back more intensely, strong in the dynamics and more space through the left corridor, with Pedro Carvalho to fail the marking and to give space to Aktürkoglu. On the other hand, Estoril was slow to have a ball and was slow and without discretion. Even before the time closure, Amdouni fell into the right thigh grass and had to be replaced by Andreas Schjelderup (57 ′). Already with Tiago Brito in place of injured Jandro Orellana, Otamendi hesitated in defense, lost the ball to Yanis Begraoui, who entered the area and was overthrown by the Argentine. In the penalty charging, the Moroccan fired a lot of denounced left and Trubin waged the shot, with Pedro Carvalho hit the post in the recharge (66 ′).

Shortly after they jumped from Banco Rafik Guitane and Alejandro Marqués, and Benfica remained stunned, nervous and unable to control the match, even after the fright. The goal of the uneasiness was guessed and eventually appeared in the final stretch of the match, with Guitane recovering a lost ball and taking a large cross to the second post, where Vinícius Zanocelo, coming from behind, jumped louder than António Silva and Tomás Araújo, heading placed to the bottom of Trubin’s goal (78 ′). Lage responded with the entrances of Leandro Barreiro and Andrea Belotti, with Cathro to keep the team balanced for the attack with Gonçalo Costa. In the first foray, the luxembourgue appeared isolated, throwing the great defense of Robles. In the recharge, Belotti could not finish and Barreiro, without angle, failed the deserted goal (86 ′). The eagle had to suffer until the end, but this time managed to hold the three points before the derby (1-2).