12 November 2007, by Marco Pereira

Rampant Benfica hit Boavista for six

Benfica 6-1 Boavista

If there were any questions about Benfica’s finishing prior to this game, the Eagles silenced their critics as they pummelled Boavista by putting six goals them in a lopsided 6-1 victory at the Estadio da Luz.

A first-half Cardozo goal was cancelled out by former Benfica product, Jorge Ribeiro, in the second half, but thereafter it was all Benfica as Maxi Pereira, Cristian Rodriguez, a Ricardo Silva own goal, and a Nuno Gomes brace sent Boavista packing.

There was little indication of the avalanche of goals to come in the first hour of a tight match. Despite sitting near the bottom of the table, Jaime Pacheco’s men started well and almost scored first in the 17th minute as Ze Kalanga crossed for Matheus, but the Boavista striker sent his shot sailing over the crossbar.

Benfica opened the scoring one minute later. Rui Costa and Nuno Gomes played a lovely give-and-go with the Benfica number no. 10 drawing two defenders towards him and laying off a pass to Cardozo, who confidently slotted the ball past Jehle.

Boavista did not let their heads drop and kept pressing the home side with tight marking and putting pressure on every Benfica pass. Their hard work almost paid off in the 31st minute as Jorge Ribeiro did not miss by much with one of his trademark shots from distance. Benfica were not to be outdone as Luisao almost scored Benfica’s second, but his header from a Rui Costa corner kick was well saved by Jehle.

Kalanga sees red

The second half started at the same frantic pace as the first and Benfica almost doubled their lead again in the 54th minute as Nuno Gomes sent a diving header just wide. Boavista were then dealt a blow as Ze Kalanga received his second yellow card of the match for a poorly timed tackle on Leo, leaving the referee no option and ordering the Angolan to hit the showers early.

The visitors showed great character and determination as they levelled the match two minutes after the sending off. Boavista cleared the ball from a corner kick and played a classic counter-attack, launching Matheus down the right side. The striker used his pace to get past Luis Filipe and centre into the area. Jorge Ribeiro picked up the ball, shimmied past Binya, and fired a shot past Quim to make it 1-1.

The celebrations were short-lived however, as Benfica reclaimed the lead four minutes later as Maxi Pereira scored his first goal in a Benfica jersey as he neatly converted a Leo pass 8 yards outside of the Boavista net and tucked it inside the near post to make it 2-1. Benfica scored a third in the 66th minute as Cristian Rodriguez notched his fourth goal of the season when he headed the ball into the far corner to make it 3-1.

Benfica’s third goal broke Boavista’s spirit as the team failed to show any more of the fight they had displayed up until then. Perhaps due to frustration, Ricardo Silva showed poor sportsmanship in the 74th minute as he viciously tackled Cardozo from behind, injuring the Paraguayan, and forcing Benfica into making a substitution. Not even a yellow card was shown to the Boavista stopper for his actions.

Boavista almost reduced the deficit in the 79th minute as Laionel rang his shot off the Benfica post. Benfica scored a fourth goal in the 80th minute as Ricardo Silva shovelled a Di Maria cross into his own net. Things kept getting worse for the visitors as Benfica were awarded a penalty in the 84th minute as Marcelao took down Nuno Gomes in the Boavista box and was lucky not to have seen a straight red as he was the last man.

Quick-fire Gomes double

Nuno Gomes stepped up to convert the penalty and the Portuguese international sent Jehle the wrong way to make it 5-1. Two minutes from full time, Nuno Gomes scored his second as he converted a Cristian Rodriguez cross. Benfica were awarded a second penalty in injury time, but Bergessio struck the ball poorly, allowing Jehle to make the save.

The Black Panthers will return home to lick their wounds and try to figure out what went wrong. As for Benfica, the club will be delighted to have cut Porto’s lead at the top of the table by four points in the last two rounds as the Bwin Liga goes into the international break.

Benfica:
Quim, Luis Filipe, Luisao, Katsouranis, Leo, Binya, Rui Costa (Romeu Ribeiro, 87), Maxi Pereira (Di Maria, 68), Cristian Rodrigues, Nuno Gomes, Cardozo (Bergessio, 77)
Yellow Cards: Leo (49)

Boavista:
Jehle, Rissut, Ricardo Silva, Marcelao, Bruno Pinheiro, Fleurival, Diakite, Jorge Ribeiro (Laionel, 74), Mateus (Bangoura, 80), Ze Kalanga, Fary (Edgar, 63)
Yellow Cards: Ze Kalanga (27 & 55), Marcelao (84)
Red Cards: Ze Kalanga (55)

Goals:
[1-0] Cardozo, 18
[1-1] Jorge Ribeiro, 57
[2-1] Maxi Pereira, 62
[3-1] Cristian Rodriguez, 66
[4-1] Ricardo Silva, 80 (o.g.)
[5-1] Nuno Gomes, 85 (pen)
[6-1] Nuno Gomes, 88