Raul de Tomas will have his usual R.D.T. acronym on his Benfica jersey in the upcoming Taca de Portugal after UEFA denied the player the usage of the acronym during the clubs last Champions League game. R.D.T. came on as a substitute in Benfica's loss to Zenit with R. de Tomas on top of his familiar number 9 due to UEFA regulations which does not allow players to use acronyms in place of their name on the back of their jerseys. De Tomas who joined Benfica during this past summers transfer window from Real Madrid, has had a difficult time adjusting to life in Portugal and scored his first goal of the season in all competitive games that same Champions League game. As a Benfica fan I think I would advise De Tomas to scrap the R.D.T. and go with the R. de Tomas if that gets the striker to start regularly scoring for the club.
With the recent adductor injury suffered by winger Rafa Silva, Benfica are looking at tinkering in the upcoming Taca de Portugal by moving left back Alex Grimaldo forward into Rafa's position in the starting eleven. The club have already experimented with Grimaldo up front in their recent training session against Alverca earlier this week but with Rafa expected to miss the teams next couple of competitive matches, the club is looking for the Spaniard to provide them with attack from the left side of the pitch in Rafa's absence. Grimaldo's move up front would open the door for youngster Nuno Tavares to get back into the lineup in the left back position.
Benfica's Taca de Portugal third round encounter against Cova da Piedade will go ahead at Piedade's home stadium of Jose Martins Vieira Municipal Stadium on October 18 at 8:30pm WEST.
Cova da Piedade needed to meet conditions to host the game at their stadium in regards to the lighting for an evening broadcast. They were given the green light on Thursday that the condition has been met and they can proceed to sell tickets to host last seasons Portuguese League Champions. Piedade's home stadium has a seating capacity of 3,500 and the club expects the game to be sold out for this encounter.
