Wasteful Benfica get draw against Bologna

Benfica went into their Champions League contest at home against a winless Bologna looking for a victory and inching closer to the knockout round of a revamped Champions League but laid an egg in a contest that ended in a scoreless draw.

With the result, Benfica sits in 15th spot in the standings with 10 points with two more contests left on the docket. Benfica thought they had opened the scoring just two minutes into the game but a Vangelis Pavilidis goal was ruled offside when checked by VAR.

Benfica was unable to get a ball past Bologna keeper Skorupski who came up big when needed and thanks to a few other wasteful opportunities in the second half by Benfica, the two clubs shared points in the first ever head to head meeting by the teams.

Benfica are a win away from the knockout round but with Barcelona and Juventus still to play in the new year, the club might need some help to get to the next stage. 

Luckily for Benfica there are only two clubs on the outside of the Top 24 that could cause concern by moving into the Top 24 with the remainder of clubs mathematically still alive but unlikely to catch Benfica in points or goal differential.

Benfica will be in the Southeast during Club World Cup group stage

Benifca have found out their group opponents for this upcoming summers Club World Cup when they were drawn with Bayern Munich, Boca Juniors and Auckland City in Group C of the competition this past Thursday.

The sites, cities and schedule is out and Benfica will be in the Southeast part of the USA when they hit the field. This is a bit of a blow to descendants of Portugal and Benfica fans that are heavily populated in the northeast part of the country. Can you say road trip....

Benfica will open the competition against Argentinian side Boca Juniors on June 16 at 6pm at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. They then face Auckland City of New Zealand on June 20 at 12pm, at Inter & Co. Stadium in Orlando. Their final group stage game will come against German side Bayern Munich on June 24 at 3pm in Charlotte at Bank of America stadium.

The top two sides in the group will advance to the round of 16 knockout stage and take on the top two clubs in Group D based on final standings. Group D participants include Chelsea, Flamengo, Leon and Esperance de Tunis. The tournament will be the first Club competition to have 32 clubs battling for the best club in the world.

Benfica being linked with Velez Sarsfield center back

A buzz surrounds young Argentine defender Valentin Gomez as Benfica shows strong interest in acquiring the player from Velez Sarsfield, with River Plate also eyeing the 21-year-old center back.

His performance at Velez has caught the eye of a few suitors as he emerges as one of the best young backs in the Argentinian league. Benfica has the reputation for its successful scouting network, often identifying talents before they become mainstream stars. This type of move fits into the game plan on acquiring young players with high potential.

Gomez appeared in the U20 World Cup for Argentina during this past summer and has appeared in 106 games across all competitions for Velez since cracking the main squad in 2022. Velez is said to be looking for over €10M for the players services, a price tag Benfica will work to reduce.

Benfica may not make the move for Gomez during the winter transfer window as it looks to hold onto all it's current center backs but with Otamendi set to become a free agent at the end of the season and the potential departure of one or both of Tomas Araujo and Antonio Silva in the summer. This is a player the club wants to keep in it's sight lines.