Benfica's tail spin has finally cost them top spot after another poor outing against Morereinse in Week 23, the Eagles travel to Setubal hoping to get their season and title hopes back on trap. Benfica will play Setubal today
at 6pm WEST
and
they will dress 18 players from the list below.
Keepers- Vlachodimos, Mile Svilar
Defenders- Tomas Tavares, Alex Grimaldo, Ruben Dias, Ferro, Nuno Tavares
Midfielders- Chiquinho, Pizzi, Taarabt, Franco Cervi, Rafa Silva, Samaris, Florentino, Julian Weigl
Forwards- Carlos Vinicius, Jota, Dyego Sousa
Benfica is struggling along in the second half of the season but one player that has continued to excel in this time of sorrow for the club and its fans is recently named Benfica footballer of the year Pizzi. The 30 year old accepted the award as the clubs best player at Benfica's recent gala on Wednesday night, Pizzi has scored 25 goals this season and assisted on 13 others across all competitions and is slowly climbing the charts of all time goal scorers at the "New" Estadio da Luz. Pizzi has scored 44 goals at his home stadium and currently sits third all time with only Oscar Cardozo's 105 goals and Jonas' 92 goals ahead of him. The "New" Luz has been the clubs home stadium since opening in October 2003 as the centerpiece of newly built and renovated stadiums for Euro 2004. Pizzi who has been a member of Benfica since the summer of 2013 when the club acquired him from Atletico Madrid has surpassed the likes of Simao, Nuno Gomes, Lima and Salvio to move into the third all time spot. Benfica are hoping the Pizzi's form will rub off on the squad as they look to right the ship in their run for the Portuguese League title.
According to reports coming from Portuguese newspapers, tax officials in Portugal have raided the offices of Benfica as part of an investigation into tax evasion not only by the Lisbon club but raids have also happened to head offices of FC Porto, Sporting, Braga, Guimaraes, Maritimo and Portimonense. Police and tax inspectors carried out a series of raids Wednesday morning as part of the operation which has been billed in Portugal as "Offside". The investigation is going back to 2015 and today's raid involved 180 police officers and 101 tax officials. Benfica have confirmed that the raids took place and are fully ready to co-operate with authorities as needed. Portuguese tax officials are said to be combing through transfers of players as prosecutors look for any proof that money was hidden which could lead to charges that include tax fraud and money laundering.
