Jorge Jesus waiting to go 3-4-3

Benfica manager Jorge Jesus is waiting on the arrival of recent signing Lucas Verissimo as rumours swirl that he is ready to change Benfica's formation to an attacking 3-4-3. For Jesus' 3-4-3 formation to work he will rely on players to fully understand their roles in this type of formation as he switches to playing with 3 center backs in his starting eleven. A key piece to the 3-4-3 system will be defensive midfielder Julian Weigl who will be expected to get back deeper into the defensive box when the club defends opponents attacks while joining the club on the offensive. Jesus will count on his current squad to master this type of formation which would see the club pin opponents back with the sheer number of players that can commit to the attack but this type of formation requires the right type of skilled players, as stamina and tactical discipline are a big part of this formation working. Jesus is looking to not only compete for the league title at home but make a run in UEFA's Europa League with an attack that might just be hard to defend.

Benfica face world reality after massive covid cases

The world as we know has not been the same in almost a year but the little sense of normality that we took some comfort in was watching our favourite sport clubs play even if their were practically little to zero fans in the stands. Today though the world reality hit our favourite club Benfica who have been rocked with 17 positive cases of COVID that effects the clubs players, coaching and general staff. Benfica have had to deal with small cases of COVID-19 among its club during the season but not at such a high level of infection as it sees now.

Benfica have five of the clubs players among the 17 positive cases, this includes Diogo Goncalves, Gilberto, Jan Vertonghen, Alex Grimaldo and Waldschmidt along with club President Luis Filipe Vieira. Winger Everton is also in isolation due to his spouse testing positive, although he himself has tested negative for the virus. Benfica is set to play tomorrow in a semi-final encounter against Braga in Taca da Liga action but the league is currently pondering how best to proceed with the clubs games over the next two weeks. Benfica manager Jorge Jesus who has tested negative for the virus had his press conference cancelled by the club today as they deal with this current situation.

Updated- Benfica have two more player cases of COVID-19 with Nuno Tavares and Otamendi testing positive

Benfica's Classico result does the club no favours

Benfica entered their road game against arch rivals FC Porto knowing that a victory would close the gap on league leaders Sporting who had just dropped points in a draw against Rio Ave earlier in the day. Benfica and FC Porto both sat four points behind Sporting with one of them having an opportunity to close the gap to just two points with a victory. Benfica manager Jorge Jesus provided a surprise in his starting eleven when he moved starting left back Alex Grimaldo into the midfield in place of Everton giving Nuno Tavares the start in Grimaldo's place. The move provided dividends right away for the club when Grimaldo opened the scoring just 17 minutes into the game on a beautiful chip over Porto's keeper. 

The joy was short lived with Porto equalizing just eight minutes later, a score that would hold up until the final whistle was blown. Benfica was giving an advantage to go for victory with just 17 minutes left in the game as Porto goal scorer Taremi was a given a straight red card after a VAR review changed his original yellow card for a hard challenge on Benfica defender Otamendi. Benfica who were having one of their better performances of the season was unable to capitalize on the advantage and blew an opportunity to close the gap on the league leaders.