Benfica brush aside Casa Pia 3-0 to solidify top spot | OneFootball

A brace from João Mário (for the second game running) and a goal from Alexander Bah saw a dominant Benfica beat Casa Pia 3-0 at the Estádio da Luz this evening.

The Bwin Liga leaders will not be even bigger favourites with the best betting sites in Canada to win the Portuguese championship.

The visitors held out for over half an hour, but once the breakthrough came the result was never in doubt as Benfica extend their lead at the top of the table to 11 points, albeit having played two games more than their title rivals.

Benfica coach Roger Schmidt continued to use Chiquinho in the Enzo Fernández role alongside Luís Florentino. With striker Gonçalo Ramos still out injured, his namesake Guedes was the furthest man forward, while David Neres was selected with Rafa Silva on the bench.

For Casa Pia, new Japanese signing Yuki Soma was on the bench again despite his exhilarating cameos in his two appearances for the Geese so far.

Benfica created danger in the opening seconds as Aursnes released Guedes down the left flank, the forward showing lightning speed to race onto the ball and cross into the box where João Mário reached the ball first but shot over the bar.

Shortly afterwards a David Neres effort from inside the box was deflected out for corner

Having survived the opening salvos, a typically well-organised Casa Pia made it difficult for Benfica to find any way through with chances at a premium. In the 18th minute Bah’s cross led to a Gonçalo Guedes backheel, with Batista saving sharply with his outstretched left foot.

On a rare incursion towards the Benfica goal, Casa Pia caused danger in the 27th minute when Romário Baró ran into the box and danced his way to the byeline, his deflected cross just evading Martins and Godwin.

With the crowd starting to show signs of impatience, Benfica suddenly broke through with a beautifully simple goal. An incisive pass by Grimaldo released David Neres, the Brazilian producing a perfect cut-back for the onrushing João Mário to finish with a first-time right footer low into the corner of the net without breaking his stride.

Mário scored a brace in midweek against Arouca, and the Portugal midfielder soon had another one to his name as Benfica doubled their lead before the break. Chiquinho played a clever diagonal pass to the overlapping Grimaldo, whose low cross found the sliding João Mário who had gotten on blind side of his marker to score from close range.

Half-time, Benfica 2-0 to the good.

For the second half Filipe Martins reformulated the Casa Pia attack, bringing on Clayton and Yuki Soma for Cuca and Rafael Martins.

With Benfica content to keep the pace of the game manageable and the visitors unable to lay a glove on the home defence, the game drifted somewhat in the first 20 minutes of the second half, the tedium only punctuated by a wild effort from a tight angle by Soma and an Aursnes header wide.

As with the opening goal, however, Schmidt’s Benfica are capable of suddenly putting together a devastating combination and on 66 minutes they were a whisker away from another fine team goal. Florentino played Grimaldo into space on the left wing, who dinked the ball into the box for Chiquinho to flick a pass to Guedes with his heel, the forward lunging to touch it into the net but just failing to make a connection.

Five minutes later it was game over. João Mário intercepted the ball deep in his own half, dinked a pass to Bah in acres of space. The Dane drove towards goal, and when Mário made a decoy run an inviting shooting opportunity opened up. Bah duly cut inside and smashed a 20-yard finish into the roof of the net with the aid of a slight deflection.

Man-of-the-match Mário was at it again five minutes later, producing a deft cross that Aursnes reached before goalkeeper Batista, but the Norwegian’s header was just wide.

In the closing stages Rafa was denied by an excellent Batista save and Grimaldo went close with a spectacular volley that hurtled narrowly over the bar.

Conclusion: efficient Benfica on track for glory despite Enzo loss

Without playing particularly brilliantly, Benfica clocked up win number 29 in 36 games of what has been an outstanding 2022/23 for them so far. Against the surprise package of the Primeira Liga, the result was never in doubt.

A big point of interest in Benfica’s last two matches has been to see how they would react to losing Enzo Fernández, the Argentinian having made an exceptional contribution to the recent success. While far tougher tests than Arouca and Casa Pia await, the initial appraisal is that the loss has not knocked the Lisbon club out of their stride, with two wins, 6 goals scored and none conceded.

While Enzo’s replacement Chiquinho cannot be expected to replicate the World Cup winner’s output, the midfield unit as a whole remains a smoothly functioning engine driving Benfica’s consistently excellent results. Chiquinho grew into the game, getting better and better and enjoying the full backing of the fans, and fellow midfielders Florentino Luís, João Mário and Fredrik Aursnes were all outstanding this evening, completely dominating the centre of the pitch.

Schmidt’s Benfica are built on solid foundations and it is difficult to see anyone catching them at the top of the table, while a deep run in the Champions League remains a distinct possibility.

By , at the Estádio da Luz

[1-0] João Mário, 36’

[2-0] João Mário, 43’

[3-0] Alexander Bah, 71’