Atlanta United make move for Benfica striker

Atlanta United have approached Benfica to discuss striker Arthur Cabral with the winter transfer window set to open in a few weeks. The Major League Soccer club is said to have already placed a bid for the Brazilian striker in the form of €15M but Benfica has rejected the first apporach as the club looks for nothing less then €20M to depart from the 26 year old.

Cabral joined Benfica in the summer of 2023 from Fiorentina with the hope of replacing departing starting striker Goncalo Ramos but he had long periods of struggle as he adapted to Portuguese football. The inconsistent play led Benfica to shop this summer for another striker and obtained Vangelis Pavlidis, pushing Cabral to a bench role with the occasional start this season.

Cabral has looked much better when called upon coming in off the bench, as the back up striker role seems to have lite a bit of a fire under the player. Cabral has appeared in 60 games across all competitions for Benfica, scoring fifteen goals while providing four helpers in 2,349 minutes of play.

Look for Benfica to hold onto the player until Atlanta or any other club with interest in Cabral meet their price point. The club are in no hurry to move on from the striker as they compete across four competitions this season which includes the Champions League. 

 

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.