Le due portoghesi sono tra le squadre più temibili del Continente, non facili da affrontare nemmeno gli olandesi, che guidano il loro campionato. Più semplice l'impegno della Fiorentina con i polacchi
Il Benfica is one of the teams in the best form this season, lo Sporting Lisbona eliminated Arsenal, who are dominating the English league, while the Feyenoord is in the lead, ahead of Ajax, in the Dutch one. The only opponent absolutely within reach is the Lech Poznańthird in the Polish championship. Inter, Juventus, Roma e Fiorentinain any case, they can play it without excessive awe.
BENFICA
Ask Juventus and Brugge for information or, alternatively, all the participants in the Portuguese championship. Roger Schmidt, the German coach of Benfica, has set up a perfect mechanism, adapting perfectly to the characteristics of his players. In the three years at the helm of Bayer Leverkusen he exacerbated the concept of re-aggression (the famous ‘gegenpressing’) so much by grouping a group of players in an area of the pitch to reach them with long balls: the numerical superiority allowed his players to recover the ball more easily . The opposite of association football showcased with Benfica. The pressing and counter-pressing can be seen and are part of the team’s tactical baggage which, however, knows how to move up the field making the most of the characteristics of the players available. You dribble and go deep, take advantage of the flanks and throw yourself vertically, arriving in the box even with quick one-twos. In January, the leaders of the Portuguese league lost Enzo Fernandez, who moved to Chelsea for 121 million, but nobody noticed. Benfica continued to grind their game. Apparently it’s a 4-2-3-1 but the movement and position changes (especially from the tall wingers entering the pitch) make it difficult to frame them tactically. The typical formation is more or less this: Vlachodimos; Bah, Antonio Silva, Otamendi (suspended for the first leg with Inter), Grimaldo; Florentino Luis, Chiquinho; Joao Mario, Rafa Silva, Aursnes (or the Brazilian David Neres); Goncalo Ramos.
SPORTING LISBONA
Since the arrival of Ruben Amorim, Sporting Lisbon has returned to the top of Portuguese football. He won the championship in 2021, although this season he is fourth behind Benfica, Porto and Braga, while in the cups he started by participating in the Champions League and finishing third in group D behind Tottenham and Eintracht Frankfurt. In the Europa League he was able to pull off a real feat by knocking out Arsenal in the round of 16. Amorim loves attacking football but isn’t a big fan of Guardiola’s positional play. However, his Sporting team is looking for a technical football combined with a significant dose of athleticism (hardly found in Portuguese teams). The game system is a 3-4-3 that makes the most of the characteristics of his trident. The typical formation is: Adan; St. Juste, Coates, Ineacho; Esgaio, Ugarte, Goncalves, Reis; Edwards, Paulinho, Trincao.
FEYENOORD
Roma find their opponents in the Conference League final almost a year ago. Always coached by Slot, the Dutch team has however changed a lot compared to last season. Dessers, Sienese, Malacia and Sinisterra are gone. However, things haven’t gotten worse, on the contrary… The Rotterdam team leads its championship and has reached the quarterfinals of the Europa League. Slot’s classic 4-3-3 has been enriched with the arrivals of central defender Hancko, coming from Sparta Prague, Polish midfielder Szymanski and forwards Gimenez (born in Argentina but with a Mexican passport) and Idrissi (Moroccan on loan from Sevilla ). The most representative player remains the Turkish midfielder Kocku. This is the typical formation: Wellenreuther; Geertruida, Trauner, Hancko, Lopez; Wieffer, Szymanski, Kokcu; Jahanbakhsh, Gimenez, Idrissi.
MILK POZNAN
Coached by Dutch coach John van den Brom, the Polish team is one of the least dangerous opponents Fiorentina could face. Third in their league behind Robotniczy and Legia Warsaw, Lech Poznan play particularly physical and fairly direct football. Its star player is Swedish international striker Mikael Ishak, who is also the league’s captain and top scorer, at ten points, alongside Jagiellonia’s Spanish Jesus Imaz. The typical formation, 4-2-3-1 system: Bednarek, Joel Pereira, Salamon, Milic, Rebocho; Murawski, Karlstrom; Skoras, Afonso Sousa, Szymczak; Ishak.
