Jehle, Boavista and referee contrive to hold livid Benfica

Boavista 0-0 Benfica

A frantic night in Porto as Boavista and Benfica played themselves to a scoreless stalemate. The match was an exciting affair marred by controversial decisions made by match official, Lucilio Baptista.

Despite the lack of goals, the game was highly entertaining with both teams looking to score throughout. The draw allows Benfica hold onto second place in the standings, tied on 45 points with Vitoria Guimaraes, but the Eagles are now only two ahead of Sporting.

Benfica felt they were hard done by with furious penalty appeals turned down by the referee and it was reported that Rui Costa and Petit let Baptista know what they thought of his performance at the end of the match. The contestation spilled over as members within the Benfica and Boavista camps were involved in altercations outside the dressing rooms.

On the field of play, Benfica had come out attacking from the opening whistle. Rodriguez sent an effort screaming over the crossbar in the 7th minute, before Petit took a fierce free kick which Jehle stopped with his chest and from the rebound, Rodriguez sent the ball skidding along the six-yard box, but Cardozo was unable to reach it at the far post. Nuno Gomes then blasted his effort from just outside of the area straight at Jehle.

Boavista finally showed some offensive prowess in the 18th minute when Laionel sent a harmless looking pass into the Benfica area, but Ze Kalanga beat Leo to the ball and almost tipped it past Quim.

The hosts were now beginning to assert themselves as Jorge Ribeiro let fly with a cracking shot with his famed left foot from 30 meters out, just missing the top right hand corner. Then in the 22nd minute Boavista were awarded a penalty as Edcarlos took down Mateus on the edge of the box and the referee made the right call, pointing to the spot.

Penalty miss

Reported Benfica target, Jorge Ribeiro, stepped up to take the penalty and struck his effort low and to the left, but Quim guessed right and made a brilliant save by smothering the ball, not allowing anyone else a crack at a rebound.

Five minutes later Boavista had claims for a second penalty turned down for handball against Nelson, but replays showed that the handball was unintentional as the ball flicked off Edcarlos’ heel with the right-back unable to get his arm out of the path of the ball in time.

Benfica went back on the attack two minutes later as Cardozo’s header looked to be going in, but Jehle came up big again to deny the Paraguayan. Shortly before the interval, Benfica had one more stab at netting a goal, but Rodriguez’s effort screamed past the post.

The second half completely belonged to Benfica as they raised their game into another gear, looking for a win in a very difficult stadium. Cardozo and Rui Costa both had opportunities that were well saved by the inspired Jehle. The Boavista goalkeeper was proving to be a thorn in Benfica’s side keeping his side level pegging time and again.

In the 50th minute Mateus, already on a yellow card, was lucky to escape a red card as he hip-checked Rodriguez, sending the Benfica player sliding into the Boavista bench. Then controversy hit in the 57th minute as Benfica made claims for two penalties and replays showed that the Lisbon club had a very strong case.

Controversy

In a matter of seconds, Mateus, who was once again at the centre of the action, made a clumsy challenge on Petit, well inside and Boavista box but the referee saw nothing wrong in the tackle. Mateus then proceeded to chase the ball, but Leo nipped to it first, only to be clipped and brought down by Mateus, but Baptista, standing only 10 metres from the incident, allowed play to continue.

Benfica continued to pressure their hosts. Di Maria had a glorious opportunity in the 64th minute when he found himself alone with only Jehle to beat, but the Boavista goalkeeper made a spectacular save denying the Argentine what appeared a certain goal. Boavista responded six minutes later and it took a toe-poke by Katosuranis to clear the danger, almost knocking the ball into his own net.

The vistors refused to let up and came close again in the 76th minute as Moises was forced to acrobatically clear a Nuno Gomes header off the goal-line. Another ugly moment reared its head in the 79th minute as Rissut made a bad tackle on Rui Costa as the Boavista defender got his timing all wrong, crashing his studs into the midfielder’s shin, and subsequently getting his marching orders.

Benfica so nearly snatched what would have been a deserved victory in stoppage time as Edcarlos at last beat Jehle but not the woodwork as his header rattled off the crossbar. There was still time for Benfica to become livid once again that Baptista did not whistle a handball against Angulo as the defender looked to use his arm to clear another Edcarlos header.

Fans got top dollar in terms of excitement, no doubt about it. A thrilling encounter to say the least, but Benfica and their supporters will feel they were short-changed by some of the official’s decisions and may get some sympathy from the neutral fan.

The Eagles put in their best performance for months, but Boavista’s goalkeeper Jehle played brilliantly to ensure that his side walked away with a hard-earned point.

Boavista:
Jehle, Rissut, Moises, Marcelao, Angulo, Diakite, Fleurival (Gilberto, 74), Jorge Ribeiro, Lainol (Fary, 70), Mateus, Ze Kalanga (Hussain, 46)
Yellow Cards: Mateus (39), Ze Kalanga (39), Angulo (81), Gilberto (90)
Red Cards: Rissut (79)

Benfica:
Quim, Nelson, Edcarlos, Katsouranis, Leo, Petit, Maxi Pereira (Di Maria, 60), Rui Costa, Cristian Rodriguez, Nuno Gomes (Mantorras, 77), Cardozo
Yellow Cards: Edcarlos (23), Katsouranis (25), Maxi Pereira (58), Petit (85)