Benfica even up games but remain a point behind top spot

Benfica traveled to Madeira to take on Nacional today in a rescheduled Week 8 contest, which brought all the teams games played in the league leveled to 14 a piece. Benfica prevailed with a 2-0 victory behind a pair of Angel di Maria second half goals.

With the result Benfica now sit in second spot in the league just one point behind Sporting for the league lead and one point ahead of third place FC Porto. Benfica and Sporting go head to head December 29 at the Estadio Alvalade and the outcome will see who holds the league lead going into the new year.

Benfica have taken advantage of both Sporting and FC Porto's struggles of late to close the gap on top spot a stretch that has seen the club win eight of ten league games while playing the other two to draws.

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.