Benfica 1-1 Farense
Benfica have dropped more points in their defence of the Primeira Liga title after drawing 1-1 at home to Farense, this Friday.
The holders were forced to come back from a goal down in search of a result after an improbable goal from Farense’s Claudio Falcão set the Leões de Faro ahead early in the second half.
Benfica replied with an equaliser in the 71st minute through Rafa Silva, but a persistent inability to find the back of the net from copious amounts of chances created sentenced the Eagles to back-to-back league draws.
Despite the heightened pressure on him, Roger Schmidt made minimal changes to the side that drew 0-0 away to Moreirense last weekend, limiting himself to the introduction of Orkun Kökçü at Florentino Luís’ expense.
It led to a fast Benfica start who took just 36 seconds to fire at goal, with João Mário ever so close to lifting the roof off the Luz following an Angel Di Maria cutback.
Di Maria was at the centre of it all again in the 12th minute, setting Rafa up for a guilt-edged chance with a cross, only for the Portuguese winger to waste the opportunity to put his side a goal up at the near-post, 14 minutes in.
Farense responded with a couple of Mattheus Oliveira sighters before Casper Tengstedt thought he had found the game’s first goal, quickly ruled for offside in the 24th minute.
Just a minute later, Tengstedt was setting Rafa up for another golden opportunity to beat Ricardo Velho from close range but, even after two bites of the cherry, the Farense keeper came out on top to deny the Eagles danger man.
The chances kept coming for Schmidt’s men who continued to find no way through at the half-hour mark, failing once through a Tengstedt one-on-one and later via a header from Nicolas Otamendi, striking the woodwork.
Following the stream of opportunities in the first half, it felt ever so typical for the under-fire Benfica boss that it’d actually be the visitors who’d break the deadlock in the 51st minute, as Claudio Falcão headed in a Mattheus corner that would infuriate the Luz.
Ricardo Velho continued to enjoy himself between the sticks but his invincibility would only last a further 20 minutes, with Rafa finally bagging a goal for Benfica at the near post.
The goal conceded didn’t mute the keeper’s performance, however, standing strong to deny Gonçalo Guedes and Rafa towards the close of the fixture. The heroics enabled the Faro outfit to hold onto a key point, adding further turbulence to Benfica’s season.
By Patrick Ribeiro
Benfica XI: Anatoliy Trubin - Morato, António Silva, Nicolas Otamendi, Frederik Aursnes - João Neves, João Mário, Orkun Kökçü - Rafa Silva, Angel Di Maria, Casper Tengstedt
Farense XI: Ricardo Velho - Talocha, Gonçalo Silva, Zach Muscat, Pastor - Claudio Falcão, Vítor Gonçalves - Marco Matías, Mattheus Oliveira, Belloumi - Bruno Duarte
Goals:
[0-1] Claudio Falcão, 51’
[1-1] Rafa Silva, 72’
