Old scenic fear kicked out
FC Porto dominated in the first half hour. Benfica shook off the dust and started a very good hour with beautiful goals. ‘South American’ final with Conceição highlighted by the negative
Maybe this chronicle could start with the indecent end of the game, but let’s leave the bad for the end and the truly important for the beginning. Benfica deserved to return home with the first trophy of the season, making FC Porto look like, throughout the second half and in the final part of the first half, a kind of sparring-partner. That is, that partner who helps the boxer seriously in training. If the dragons had an initial half hour of almost splendor, pushing all the eagles very close to the Vlachodimos area, allowing them almost no ball exit, from then on everything changed.
The reds then shook off the old scenic fear that is said to appear whenever they play with the blues, took the ball and left for an hour (15+45 minutes) of rumble, in which they reduced the opponent almost to ashes. The first goal came from a great effort by Kokçu and Di María, with an initial error by Pepê and a final error by Diogo Costa. It was clear then that the game was won and that the Supercup would fly to the Benfica museum.
Musa and Namaso surprises
Let’s go back to the zero minute and the starting eleven that, let’s be honest, few would expect. Schmidt only three times, in the 55 games last season, played without a spearhead and even in those, Gonçalo Guedes appeared to take the position. Already without Gonçalo Ramos, the German gave up playing with a pure 9 and put Rafa as a striker closer to being 9 without actually being 9. And he brought in João Neves to the middle. Conceição, in turn, surprised with Namaso in the place that, in theory, would belong to Toni Martínez.
It could be said that Sérgio Conceição started to win, as Benfica seemed to be surprised by his absence in front of a more steady man and FC Porto assimilated the Toni Martínez/Namaso exchange well. And the first half hour, with Galeno on the left and Pepê from behind to play wing midfielder and, at times, almost central midfielder, belonged almost entirely to the dragons. Finishing the first 30 minutes with no goals conceded turned out to be great for the reds, although there was no otherworldly opportunity on the part of FC Porto. More than the power of the dragons, it was confirmation that the old scenic fear had reappeared, that figure of style that tells us that Benfica players are terrified when they face FC Porto.
It was, however, an error in the analysis of those who saw the game from the outside. Around half an hour, for inexplicable reasons, everything began to reverse. The first jolt to that scenic fear came from Kokçu’s foot, who forced Diogo Costa to make a safe save, yes, but not a simple one. Until half-time, Rafa’s escape was poorly evaluated by one of Luís Godinho’s assistants, who should have let the move be completed and only then, then yes, signal the possible offside.
Roger Schmidt moved at half-time and he moved very well: Ristic for Jurásek and, above all, João Mário for Musa. Benfica ended the first half on top of the opponent, started the second even more on top and continued like this almost until the end. There was only one wing strike missing, one of those moments that turn a balanced game into an uneven one. Pepê’s error, Kokçu’s recovery, Di María’s great goal (with too much style by Diogo Costa and little effectiveness); shortly after, Rafa runs down the right, opens on Musa, who makes it 2-0. Benfica, 2-FC Porto, 0? Or Schmidt, 2-Conception, 0? Both. The Super Cup was, therefore, almost in the red pocket, but it almost became definitive when, without much surprise, let’s be honest, Pepe was expelled after Pepe tackled Jurásek.
Let’s talk, then, about that indecorous ending. Playing in midfield, Luís Godinho signals a foul in favor of Benfica, Sérgio Conceição disagrees in an exalted way, sends the referee to f*** and sees the red card. Unusually, the FC Porto coach refuses to leave the field.
Godinho asks Marcano (captain after Pepe’s departure) to tell Conceição that he really has to leave. He doesn’t leave. The police are called, but they don’t come into action, because after too many minutes of the referee telling the FC Porto coach that he has to leave, Conceição there accepts the decision and leaves. Unseemly.
Referee – LUÍS GODINHO (grade 6)
Disciplinary too rigid at the beginning, he later had to lower the rigor in sampling yellow cards. However, he did very well in the essential moments: very fair sending-offs for Pepe and Sérgio Conceição and a well-annulled goal for Galeno. And a lot of courage/serenity to deal with the attitude of the FC Porto coach, not wanting to leave the field after being expelled.
Best on the field A BOLA – João Neves (Benfica)
2023-08-10 00:42:53
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