After the leave of absence of Roger Schmidt, Benfica won their ninth national competitive game in a row on Saturday evening. In the 7-0 win against Estrela Amadora, world champion Angel di Maria stood out from the team.
In Portugal, the last international break of the year is followed by the last 16 of the national cup competition. On Friday, champions Sporting had already beaten FC Amarante 6-0 – although goal machine Gyökeres “only” scored once as a substitute.
Before defending champions Porto take to the pitch on Sunday (at 6pm CET at Moreirense), Benfica made short work of Estrela Amadora on Saturday evening. Especially as Di Maria, a 36-year-old, was already turning up in the early stages of the game.
After just two minutes, the 2022 World Cup winner took the lead, before adding an application video for goal of the month. With his back to goal, he played the ball over a defender and did a spectacular overhead kick into the left corner (5th minute). The Estadio da Luz was already at full operating temperature.
After 18 minutes, the game was as good as over because, of course, Di Maria made it 3-0 at half-time. This time, the left-footer let his opponent make a futile tackle and thundered the ball under the crossbar from a semi-right position with his weaker foot. 14 minutes after the restart, the outstanding man of the evening, Di Maria, played a one-two to set up Aktürkoglu to score the 4-0 (59).
Di-Maria-representative stands out – now it’s Monaco’s turn
In the 65th minute, Di Maria was allowed to be celebrated by the entire Estadio da Luz. But that didn’t satisfy Benfica: Amdouni, who had come on for Di Maria, scored the 5-0 (81st minute). Within four minutes, attacker Arthur Cabral scored a brace to make the score 7-0 (86′, 90′). Only then was the pitiful Amadora released.
Thanks to the resounding home victory, Benfica have now won all nine of their domestic competitive matches since Roger Schmidt was dismissed and replaced by Bruno Lage. On Wednesday, Benfica will face a test in the Champions League, where they have lost to Feyenoord (1-3) and Bayern (0-1) in their last two games. An away game in Monaco awaits.