Supersubs fire Benfica into semi-finals

Benfica 2-0 Moreirense

Benfica scratched out a 2-0 win against lowly second division side Moreirense in the Portuguese Cup to advance to the semi-finals of the competition.

Rui Costa (pictured) and Makukula both had to come on late to salvage an otherwise weak performance by the Portuguese giants.

Moreirense’s tournament comes to an end, but the club can take solace from the fact that they managed to make it all the way to the quarter-finals and keep Benfica at bay for almost 70 minutes.

Benfica will now await the draw, joining Vitoria Setubal, FC Porto and Sporting in what are sure to be two mouth-watering encounters to look forward to.

Cardozo and Adu fired efforts on goal in the opening 10 minutes, but the ball sailed over the bar on both occasions. Benfica continued to have the upper hand and Cardozo and Di Maria soon forced goalkeeper Rui Marcos into making fine stops.

Just before half time a neat move by the hosts involving Luis Filipe, Di Maria and Nuno Assis ended with the latter hitting a firm shot which Marcos managed to deflect out for a corner.

Realising a change was needed, Camacho, against his will, brought on Rui Costa and Makukula in the 55th minute for Luis Filipe and Adu respectively. The Spaniard admitted after the match that he had been hoping to save the two players for the Lisbon derby this weekend.

The moves paid off as in the 69th minute Rui Costa gave Benfica the lead when Cardozo chested down a ball on the edge of the area for the classy playmaker to hammer a terrific shot past Marcos and into the roof of the net.

Shortly before full time Makukula gave Benfica an insurance goal when the striker slotted a Mantorras pass into the net.

Benfica:
Butt, Luis Filipe (Rui Costa, 55), Marco Zoro, Edcarlos, Sepsi, Maxi Pereira, Binya, Nuno Assis, Di Maria, Adu (Makukula, 55), Cardozo (Mantorras, 74)
Yellow Cards: Adu (29), Binya (41)

Moreirense:
Rui Marcos, Tiago Lopes, Joao Duarte, Helio, Serafim, Bino, Cesar Marques (Cascavel, 78), Rui Borges (Marquinho, 83), Nuno Fonseca (Jonas, 74), Luisinho, Quim

Goals:
[1-0] Rui Costa, 69
[2-0] Makukula, 86