Benfica humiliated by Academica at the Estadio da Luz

Benfica 0-3 Academica

Benfica suffered their worst loss this season as Academica pounded the Lisbon club 3-0 at the Esatdio da Luz. Miguel Pedro, Berger and Luis Aguiar all scored their first goals of the season as shocking defending handed the Eagles an embarrassing loss on home soil, in turn jeopardizing their chances of qualifying for next season’s Champions League.

Defensive lapses and failure to make good on their own chances were big reasons why Benfica were handed their biggest loss at home this century. That is to take nothing away from the Estudantes as Domingos Paciencia’s men played an efficient and compact game, and were clinical with their opportunities to dispose of a hapless Benfica.

Benfica coach Chalana said after the game that football is sometimes like this when teams just have a bad night and we suppose he was referring to Luisao’s massive blunder in only the 4th minute of the match.

The Brazilian, who has just returned from a lengthy injury, attempted to pass the ball back to his goalkeeper Quim, not realizing that Miguel Pedro was lurking. The Academica striker pounced on it, ran towards goal, manoeuvred past Quim and shot into an open net to give the visitors an early lead.

Cardozo woe

Benfica came storming back on two separate occasions, with Cardozo at the centre of each, but the Paraguayan international did not have his goal-scoring boots on this night as he wasted passes by Luisao and Nelson. At the other end of the pitch Luis Aguiar blew an opportunity in the 15th minute to put the visitors two up as shot wide with only Quim to beat.

Once again Benfica had two occasions in quick succession, but failed to make the grade as Nuno Gomes and Cardozo should have done better. The misses proved costly for the Eagles as Academica scored a second goal they had been threatening in the 32nd minute. Nuno Gomes failed to properly mark Berger and the Austrian defender headed a Luis Aguiar free kick past Quim.

Benfica, to their credit, did not let up and kept coming at Academica. In the 39th minute Luisao headed a Cristian Rodriguez corner kick, but Pedro Roma made a sensational save to tip the ball over the crossbar. Chalana opted to bring on Di Maria for Binya and the substitution almost paid immediate dividends. In the 43rd minute the Argentine nearly reduced the deficit with his first touch of the ball as his effort beat Pedro Roma but not the woodwork.

The visitors refused to be intimidated as Luis Aguiar forced Quim into a wonderful stop from a free kick and there was still time before the half-time whistle for Cardozo to spurn another chance, sending his shot hopelessly over top of goal.

Cardozo’s and Benfica’s woes continued after the break as another opportunity went begging when the Paraguayan made a mess of a header when unmarked. It then became the Pedro Roma show as the Academica goalkeeper stopped screamers from Rodriguez and Rui Costa in quick succession.

Clinical strike

As had been the case all night, the missed chances combined with Academica’s clinical strikes proved to be the difference, as the Benfica defence failed to deal with a Miguel Pedro cross and Luis Aguiar was able pick off Quim at will to make it 3-0.

Cardozo was having a night to forget as another chance went begging in the 76th minute when the marksman shot over top. Academica had another great opportunity to add to Benfica’s misery in the 83rd minute when Luis Aguiar found Edgar all alone and the striker went one-on-one against Quim, but the Portuguese international did superbly well to get the better of the forward.

Benfica fans might be able to forgive their team for a miserable performance should they manage to finish in second place at the end of the season. But matches such as this one are more easily understood at the beginning of the season as opposed to the opposite end with only a handful of fixtures remaining.

Should Benfica fail to qualify for any of the Champions League spots for next year, all will look back at this match as a key moment.

Benfica:
Quim, Nelson, Luisao, Katsouranis, Leo (Makukula, 72), Binya (Di Maria, 42), Petit, Rui Costa, Cristian Rodrigues, Nuno Gomes (Mantorras, 64), Cardozo
Yellow Cards: Leo (32), Petit (84)

Academica:
Padro Roma, Berger, Orlando, Kaka, Pedro Costa, Nuno Piloto, Pedrinho, Cris, Luis Aguiar (Ivanildo, 83), Miguel Pedro (Edgar, 75), Lito (Tiero, 85)
Yellow Cards: Edgar (81)

Goals:
[0-1] Miguel Pedro, 4
[0-2] Berger, 32
[0-3] Luis Aguiar, 65