Braga hold Benfica at the Luz

Benfica 1-1 Sporting Braga

Benfica drew their third consecutive game at home and their seventh in the league last night in a 1-1 draw against Braga. Ze Manel put the Arsenalistas up early on, but Luisao equalised midway through the first half.

The draw leaves Benfica 12 points behind leaders FC Porto, 4 points ahead of Guimaraes, and a further point in front of local rivals Sporting, who they face next week in the Lisbon derby.

Braga went up by a goal before many fans had found their seats when Ze Manel converted a Cesar Peixoto rebound. The hosts responded immediately and created a series of half chances.

The Eagles found what they were looking for in the 21st minute when Luisao headed in a Rui Costa free kick, which left Keiszek rooted to the spot.

Petit and Cardozo then came close to giving Benfica the lead, but their efforts just cleared the crossbar. Next it was Braga’s turn to come close when Leo cleared a Matheus effort that deflected off Katsouranis and with the ball appearing to be going into their own net, Quim managed to smother it and keep the score level at one apiece.

Petit should have done better as he headed a Rui Costa free kick way over the crossbar from inside the six yard box just before the interval.

The second half belonged to Benfica as the guests were content to keep 11 players behind the ball and wait until the final whistle in order to collect a point. It was a dangerous game to play and Benfica almost made them to pay when Cardozo’s header in the 73rd minute was well saved by Kieszek and Katsouranis’ long-range effort two minutes later flew just wide of goal.

Benfica thought they taken the lead in the 79th minute as Mantorras did well to spot an unmarked Nuno Assis on the left. The midfielder struck the ball past Kieszek but a sliding Contreras prevented the ball from going in with Sepsi shooting wide from the rebound.

Just before full time Cardozo struck the ball with his favourite left foot, but the shot was well gathered by the Braga net minder. A final chance came in added time as Nelson had the chance to be the hero, but his shot narrowly missed at the near post to condemn the match to a draw.

Benfica:
Quim, Nelson, Luisao, Katsouranis, Leo, Petit (Sepsi, 65), Binya, Rui Costa, Nuno Assis (Adu, 84), Di Maria (Mantorras, 78), Cardozo
Yellow Cards: Sepsi (67), Luisao (76), Nuno Assis (82)

Sporting Braga:
Kieszek, Joao Pereira, Paulo Jorge, Rodriguez, Miguelito, Contreras, Brum, Ze Manel (Wender, 62), Cesar Peixoto (Frechaut, 50), Linz (Jailson, 72), Matheus
Yellow Cards: Brum (20), Matheus (44), Ze Manel (59,), Miguelito (87)

Goals:
[0-1] Ze Manel, 5
[1-1] Luisao, 21