A match at the Estádio do Bessa has typically been difficult in recent years for Benfica. From our last five there, including last night’s match, we’ve won two, lost two, and drew one.

I was fortunately able to get my hands on two tickets for the match, and while there, apart from my observations of the match itself, there was one off the field situation that was odd, and concerning, but I’ll leave that for a separate article.

THE TEAM DIDN’T LACK SUPPORT

It’s no surprise that whether it’s at home, or away, Benfica fans follow the team. From the moment we parked the car, the quantity of Benfica jerseys around the city was quite surprising to be honest, at least for me, who had never been to the Estádio do Bessa.

My seats were in the Topo Norte bottom section, and even in line to get into the stadium, the fans were loud and boisterous. The feeling of togetherness and passion for our club was palpable. Being my first match away from the Estádio da Luz to watch Benfica in an official match, it was certainly a different experience.

Fans, young and old cheered loudly, and even during the warmup, whenever Benfica would score a goal, we made sure to celebrate.

Throughout the match, we sang, we cheered, and sulked in frustration unfortunately. Despite the highs and lows of the match, the team will have certainly benefited and appreciated the support coming from the crowd. We always hear about Benfica AwayDays, and how they are just different. After experiencing that last night, and having been to various matches at the Estádio da Luz, it’s certainly different.

Well done to all the fans who traveled from near and far!

DOUBLE EDGED SWORD

Truth be told, despite Benfica taking the lead in the match in the first half, we hadn’t created many dangerous opportunities until then, if any. It all came down to an individual moment from Rafa, and looking back, it felt that most of our offensive chances in that first half started with him.

There were a variety of misplaced passes in transition, and on more than one occasion, one of our defenders had to come to the rescue.

After the goal, we started to settle into the game, but didn’t do much with 59% possession in the first half.

With the lead, the second half couldn’t have started in worse fashion.

Musa’s sending off in the 50th minute completely turned the match on it’s head, and here is where I reference the double edged sword.

Roger Schmidt’s reaction to the red card was to take off Di Maria, and bring on Morato. At that point, Benfica lined up with a back five defensively, and then going forward, Bah and Jurásek had the freedom to get forward, allowing Benfica to have more bodies in the center of the field.

I’ve seen a lot of criticism related to that change.

With one man down, and needing all 10 players to defend at some point, Di Maria for me is the right player to come off, unfortunately. Offensively, we know what he can give us in the final third, but having just played in the Supertaça, Roger Schmidt and his coaching staff need to be smart about how they utilize the 35-year old, who is no stranger to some injuries. Leaving him out there to chase the ball with 10 men in my opinion isn’t the proper way to manage his minutes.

The misfortune for Roger Schmidt was that right after Morato comes on, that set piece from the Musa sending off resulted in the game tying goal. Defensive mistakes, poor clearance, and Boavista was back in it.

With Rafa our main focal point up top, and three center backs in front of Odysseas, we still never lost control of the match.

In the 75th minute, after a diving header from João Neves, and an incredible save from Boavista’s goalkeeper, Rafa once again comes out of nowhere and heads Benfica back into the lead. It was complete mayhem in the Topo Norte.

At this point, with 15 minutes to go, we all felt we had this under control. Wrong!

That second goal was tough for us to really understand what happened from the other end of the stadium, but watching it back on video, the amount of errors in that one play is incredible.

First, António Silva mistimes his jump on the clearance. Then, Odysseas comes out but second guesses himself and gets caught in between decisions. Yet, the biggest problem of these two mistakes is that Ody comes out and doesn’t stand his ground. He didn’t make himself big, started to retreat, and essentially was leaning sideways, allowing the Boavista player to cross the ball across the box.

Of course, we are on the outside, and it’s easier to judge from out here than it is to be on the inside, but I think that if Ody stands his ground there and just stands tall, the defender ends up kicking the ball against him at the very least.

After all that, António Silva showed his lack of experience and made a desperation lunge, awarding the hosts another get out of jail free card. 2-2, and at this point, it was hard to not think about just getting out of there with the point, but not even that outcome was on our side.

The fact that they scored their third on yet another frenetic and chaotic play, essentially in the last kick of the match summed up those 90+ minutes.

I’m of the opinion that the result doesn’t paint the picture of the performance. We never looked unsettled or against the ropes, even with10 men, or even after conceding the first and second goal. The team always reacted well to the adversity, but individual and collective mistakes combined with the lack of a little luck result in these things.

Rafa hit the crossbar, Neres had a brilliant strike off the crossbar in the dying moments that could have given us the 2-3 lead, and while I don’t like to point fingers at the referee, Makouta could have, and probably should have been sent off in the 11th minute for a challenge I believe on João Neves. It was high, and no different than Musa’s sending off.

We can sit here and criticize Roger Schmidt all we want, but as I said before, I didn’t disagree with the changes he made. The problem here was that everything that could have gone against us, did, and Roger Schmidt can’t control those moments unfortunately.

As he said in his post match presser, we are unhappy with the result, but I am happy with my player’s performance. Had he made those changes, and we came away with three points, most people would likely be praising him, or better yet, some would still criticize, because as we know, some people just can’t help themselves but to find something to pick at.

It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Unfortunately, we are trailing after the first lap, but it’s a long race.