The 26th week of Liga NOS 2020/21 was something of a goal-laden affair, a thrilling 3-3 draw between Boavista and Rio Ave one of the weekend’s highlights. Santa Clara put five past beleaguered Nacional, while in-form Portimonense routed Vitória Guimarães 3-0 in the Algarve.
The title race also heated up as first-placed Sporting dropped points to Famalicão, allowing Porto to close the gap with victory at Tondela.
Another side who took advantage of leaders drawing was their bitter local rivals Benfica, who continued their superb recent results by hammering Paços Ferreira. The Eagles’ Swiss striker Haris Seferović is the PortuGOAL Figure of the Week after starring once again for Jorge Jesus’ side.
Switzerland international forward Haris Seferović is arguably in the prime of his career aged 29 as he participates in his fourth season with Benfica. The Lisbon giants picked him on a free transfer from Eintracht Frankfurt back in 2017, with the player also representing the likes of Real Sociedad, Fiorentina and Grasshoppers in his past.
On occasion a maligned figure in Portugal, Seferović has shown some tendencies to blow hot and cold to extremes with Benfica in going through bouts of poor form and finishing at times yet also capable of putting together deadly runs of ability in front of goal. At the time of writing he is very much experiencing the latter, having to bide his time for much of the season to become one of Jorge Jesus’ more favoured attacking options but presently cemented as the number one striker at the club. If you want to score big too, a visit to situs slot online is a good place to start.
Most often paired with fellow forwards Darwin Núñez and Luca Waldschmidt, Seferović provides a good option for Benfica in being more physically robust than the somewhat more lithe aforementioned duo, boasting a considerable aerial threat as well as a deadly left foot.
The Swiss has often looked the epitome of a confidence player in terms of his performing peaks and troughs in Portugal, but Seferović went into Saturday evening’s contest with Paços Ferreira full of beans having embarked on a run of six goals in his previous five league starts, and he ended up producing his finest performance of the campaign under the lights at Estádio da Mata Real.
The home side were reduced to ten men early on due to Stephen Eustáquio’s red card and Benfica predictably took a complete stranglehold of the game thereafter. Diogo Gonçalves opened the scoring in the 37th minute and not long after it should have been 2-0, excellent work from Seferović to beat the offside trap should have been rewarded with an assist for the Swiss striker but Waldschmidt somehow missed from his strike partner’s pass.
Seferović would provide for the second just before the break though, a superb reverse pass picked out the run of Rafa Silva, who rounded Paços goalkeeper Jordi to then put into an empty net.
Seferović then thought he had registered the third goal after finishing from Adel Taarabt’s pass in a mirrored fashion to Rafa’s goal, only to be denied by the offside flag.
Excessive first half stoppage time however meant there was still time for Seferović to get his goal before the whistle blew. The same combination worked a treat again, only this time the Swiss forward timed his run perfectly from the Moroccan’s pass before clipping a delicate finish over Jordi.
With the game as a contest over the second half allowed Seferović to drop deeper at times and show off his lesser-known playmaker tendencies, doing well to set up substitute Éverton in the 65th minute but the Brazilian’s shot was saved well by Jordi.
Seferović doubled his goal tally for the day with twelve minutes remaining. A typical “number 9” goal in many ways, showing excellent strength with his back to goal to collect Éverton’s pass and spin away from defender Maracás before burying a low shot past Jordi for 4-0.
Benfica rounded off the scoring with a fifth goal and Seferović was integral once more, superbly controlling a long pass before unselfishly laying the ball off to Núñez to tap in from close range.
An encapsulation of Seferović at his best, a striker capable of pulling the trigger himself but one who also does not neglect his team-mates, his assist providing visible relief for his Uruguayan team-mate Núñez who has had his share of goalscoring and fitness woes of late.
Another excellent victory racked up for the Eagles as they continued their fine domestic run, the Swiss leading from the front as arguably the league’s in-form player currently.
Seferović’s hot streak has propelled him to joint-top of the Liga NOS goalscoring rankings as he pursues a second golden boot in the space of three seasons. He may have his critics but if he maintains this kind of run in front of goal then Benfica are maybe not dead and buried in the title race just yet.
By Jamie Farr
