Benfica battle back to earn draw in Club World Cup opener

The Hard Rock Stadium in Miami was rocking, as Benfica and Boca Juniors delivered the most exciting and controversial game of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup thus far, with the game ending in a 2-2 draw. This clash was a spectacle to watch, turning from a football game to a WWE Royal Rumble by the time the game concluded. There where three red cards, four yellows, and 22 fouls committed in the contest that had fans on the edge of their seats in joy and anger.

Benfica started the game strong, controlling over 60% of possession early on and creating chances through the likes of Renato Sanches and Angel Di María, while Bruma clanked one of the post before being called off side. However, it was Boca Juniors, who struck first in the 21st minute with Lautaro Blanco’s incisive run and low cross path finding its way to Miguel Merentiel, who finished with a clinically goal to give Boca a 1-0 lead.

 

Boca would strike again just six minutes later, when Rodrigo Battaglia's header off of a corner found it's way into the back of the net. The Argentine side capitalized on a pair of mistakes by Benfica, who then struggled to regain their composure for much of the half until just before the break, when Otamendi went down under contact inside the box, a VAR review would award a kick from the penalty spot.

 

Angel di Maria stepped up to the spot and coolly placed the ball into the lower left corner of the net, beating his former international teammate Agustin Marchesin and cutting the lead to 2-1 before the half time whistle would sound, reigniting Benfica's hopes. 

 

The second half would see tensions boil over, queuing the circus music, Benfica did their best to try to equalize but Boca made sure to slow the tempo to a point where the first 25 minutes of the second half actually saw as little as 9 minutes of action. The frustration got the best of the Portuguese club as at the 70th minute mark Andrea Belotti who was just brought in at the half would see a straight red card from a high foot that caught the Boca defender in the head.

 

But Benfica unlike the officials in this match, were relentless and scored the equalizer from a corner set piece as Orkun Kokcu's ball whipped into the box found the head of captain Otamendi who would bring the game level at the 84th minute of the game. Boca would then see a straight red as Jorge Fical went in with a reckless challenge on Florentino at the 88 minute mark leaving both clubs with ten men on the pitch.

 

The final whistle would come quicker then most fans would have expected with the match officials only adding five minutes of injury time to the clock, infuriating hardcore and casual fans alike, who expected at minimum to see double digits from the officials for the time wasting that brought most of the second half to a stand still.

 

Benfica fans can be happy that the club played right to the end and earned a draw but they can also be disappointed with the poor starting XI chosen by Bruno Lage to commence this contest. The officiating was some of the worse seen in sometime and the match crew lost control of this game when they chose to withhold obvious card infractions from the start of the game.

 

Benfica will next face amateur club Auckland City on Friday and know very well that advancement to the next round of the competition may come down to goal differential and they would be wise to hit the New Zealanders with everything they have and pad the scoresheet before they face Bayern Munich next week.