Benfica escaped with a 3-2 victory in a hard fought first leg encounter against Famalicao in their Taca de Portugal semi-final game. Benfica made four changes to their winning squad from Week 19 resting Ferro, Weigl, Rafa and Vinicius and inserting Jardel, Gabriel, Chiquinho and Seferovic in their places. The first half saw both clubs come close to opening the scoring with their close encounters going wide of the others respective net and Famalicao's keeper Vana came up with a big stop, turning aside Pizzi's free kick as the clubs went into the half scoreless. Benfica opened the scoring eight minutes into the half when Pizzi would convert a penalty after a Seferovic cross was hand balled by defender Riccieli but that lead was short lived as just five minutes later Pedro Goncalves would equalize after a scramble in front of Benfica's net. Famalicao would then take the lead on the counter attack as Pedro Goncalves turned playmaker and found a streaking Toni Martinez who broke in a alone and had his low shot get past Benfica keeper Vlachodimos. It was then Benfica's turn to equalize quickly as just six minutes later Rafa Silva would bury a Carlos Vinicius rebound to make the game 2-2 as the two substitutes clicked quickly after entering the game. Benfica would then seal the victory in additional time as Grimaldo's corner kick would find the head of Gabriel and he would make no mistake smashing home the winner to give Benfica the slim victory in the first leg, the two clubs will meet again next week at the Estadio Municipal de Famalicao on February 11 as one club looks to move into the Taca de Portugal Finals.
Benfica are set to take on Famalicao in the first leg of the Taca de Portugal semi-final at the Estadio da Luz as they look to advance to the Final of the tournament for the first time since 2017. Benfica will play Famalicao today at 7:15pm WEST and they will dress 18 players from the list below.
Keepers- Vlachodimos, Ivan Zlobin
Defenders- Tomas Tavares, Alex Grimaldo, Ruben Dias, Ferro, Jardel, Andre Almeida,
Midfielders- Chiquinho, Pizzi, Taarabt, Franco Cervi, Rafa Silva, Gabriel, Florentino
Forwards- Carlos Vinicius, Seferovic, Jota
The winter transfer market is officially closed and Benfica have seen players come in and players go out during the transfer period as the club forges ahead into the final half of the season. Benfica currently lead the race for the Portuguese title and are also in the semi-finals of the Taca de Portugal and the Round of 32 of the Europa League and hope that their changes lead to success in all competitions. Here is a round up of what Benfica did during the winter transfer market with their main squad.
In:
Julian Weigl (Borussia Dortmund) Purchase €20M
Dyego Sousa (Shenzhen FC) Loan
Yony Gonzalvez (Free Transfer)
Out:
Raul de Tomas (Espanyol) Sold €20M
Lisandro Lopez (Boca Juniors) Sold €3M
Gedson Fernandes (Tottenham) Loan Fee €4.5M
Caio Lucas (Sharjah FC) Loan Fee €1.5M
Ljubomir Fejsa (Alaves) Loan
German Conti (Atlas) Loan
