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25 October 2007, by Marco Pereira

Cardozo breaks scoring hoodoo to earn Benfica vital win

Benfica 1-0 Celtic

Benfica collected a vital three points in their attempt to advance out of the group phase of the Champions League with a well-deserved 1-0 win against Celtic.

A late Cardozo goal in the second-half ended a streak of bad luck in front of goal for the player to see the Eagles catapult themselves back into contention for a spot in the Round of Sixteen.

After losing to AC Milan and Shakhtar Donetsk, the Portuguese team were in desperate need of a victory in order to keep their hopes of qualification alive. The win will boost the club’s confidence as they try to build momentum when they go into Parkhead for the return leg in two weeks’ time.

Cagey opening

The match started as a game of cat and mouse with both teams feeling the each other out, not wanting to risk too much early. Benfica were enjoying the majority of ball possession while Celtic were playing the counter attack game, trying to utilize the speed of McGeady and Killen up front.

The first good opportunity of the match came for the home side in the 23rd minute when Leo blew past Caldwell and crossed the ball in front of the Celtic goal, but Cardozo was unable to get onto the end of it. It seemed like Caldwell was in for another uncomfortable night at the Estadio da Luz after the defender scored an own goal to open the scoring in Benfica’s 3-0 win when they two sides last met last season.

Then Benfica were close to scoring on two successive occasions as Cardozo headed a Rui Costa corner kick narrowly wide and Binya dangerously deflected a Costa free kick that just missed the target.

Celtic were not about to let Benfica enjoy all the fun as Donati took a shot from point blank range which Quim had to push for a corner kick. Just before the interval Brown let fly with a shot that did not miss the right post by much.

Brilliant Boruc save

The second half saw the Lisbon giants continue from where they left off in the opening 45 minutes as Cardozo headed a Cristian Rodriguez cross forcing Boruc to make a brilliant stop to keep the game goalless. In the 59th minute it was Quim’s turn to showcase his goalkeeping prowess as McGeady hit a powerful left-footed strike that the Portugal goalkeeper did well to keep out.

In the space of two minutes Cardozo thought he had been cursed after doing everything right, only to be denied by the woodwork on both occasions.

The Paraguayan could not believe his luck as he hit the crossbar following up a Cristian Rodriguez rebound, and then struck the post with a left-footed strike after a smart turn in the 66th minute. With just over 15 minutes to go, the South American let another shot go, but it deflected off a Celtic defender and skimmed past the post.

Di Maria assist

When it appeared that both sides were going to take a share of the spoils, Cardozo got his just desserts as the Benfica striker called for the ball, took down an excellent Di Maria chipped pass with his chest and pushed it into the net leaving Boruc with no chance.

Benfica coach Jose Antonio Camacho asked his team for concentration and motivation for 90 minutes and he got just that. Perhaps this was the break that the Portuguese side has been waiting for, but Celtic will be in vindictive mood in a fortnight and will do all they can to prevent their guests walking away with a similar result in Glasgow.

Benfica:
Quim, Maxi Pereira, Luisao, Katsouranis, Leo, Nuno Assis (Di Maria, 61), Binya, Rui Costa, Cristian Rodriguez (Luis Filipe, 85), Bergessio (Adu, 61), Cardozo
Yellow Cards: Di Maria (90)

Celtic:
Boruc, Caldwell, Kennedy, McManus, Naylor, Hartley, Jarosik, Brown, Donati (Sno, 63), McGeady, Killen (McDonald, 74)
Yellow Cards: McGeady (28), Killen (55), Hartley (72)

Goals:
[1-0] Cardozo, 87