Benfica drop points in the O Classico once again this season losing for the second time this campaign with both of those loses coming to rivals FC Porto. Benfica came into the game ready to take a commanding lead atop Portugal as a victory would have the Encarnados up by ten points on second place Porto but a poor first half would see their advantage actually shrink to four points and turn this season back into a race for the Portuguese title.
Bruno Lage decided to make one change to Week 19's winning squad with the reintroduction of Chiquinho into the starting eleven at the secondary striker position. The inclusion came at the expense of Franco Cervi, as Rafa would drop from playing alongside Carlos Vinicius into the Argentinian midfielders left spot. This poor decision by Lage would come back to haunt the club with all of Porto's goals created down the left side of the field with Jesus Corona and Marega pushing play.
The lack of defensive help from Cervi down the left side of the field for Grimaldo was exactly what was missing in their first half encounter and Lage seems to not have learned from this error which would not be the only tactic he would get wrong in this encounter. Benfica would come out flat to start the first half and FC Porto almost opened the scoring when a Luis Diaz cross would be sent just wide of the left post from a Pepe header just seven minutes into the game.
Benfica are set for their biggest game of the season as they get set to face FC Porto in "O Classico" at Porto's Estadio do Dragao. Benfica will look to open up a ten point lead over the second place northern club as the to combatants lock horns. Benfica will play FC Porto today at 8:30pm WEST and
they will dress 18 players from the list below.
Keepers- Vlachodimos, Ivan Zlobin
Defenders- Tomas Tavares, Alex Grimaldo, Ruben Dias, Ferro, Andre Almeida,
Midfielders- Chiquinho, Pizzi, Taarabt, Franco Cervi, Rafa Silva, Julian Weigl, Florentino, Samaris
Forwards- Carlos Vinicius, Seferovic, Jota, Dyego Sousa
Benfica scouts were in Algarve recently watching a friendly between Swedish club Norrkoping and Danish side Brondby on January 31 with their eyes set on Montenegro International Sead Haksabanovic. The 20 year old midfielder who is on loan from West Ham with the Swedish side until the summer joined the Hammers from Halmstad in 2017. Haksabanovic who regularly plays the left midfield spot that is currently occupied by Rafa Silva and Franco Cervi appeared in 34 games across all competitions for Norrkoping scoring eight goals and setting up another eight. The acquisition of Haksabanovic could mean Franco Cervi's time with the club is over as he has been linked with a return back to his native Argentina to join Boca Juniors. Mexican side Tigres has also revealed that they will be in the race to land Cervi once the transfer window re-opens in the summer and Benfica's interest in Haksabanovic makes sense with the potential departure of the hard working Cervi.
