📝 Southampton suffer defeat to Benfica in Martin's opening game | OneFootball

Life under Russell Martin began with a defeat for Southampton as Benfica put them to the sword on Wednesday.

Scorers: Neres 10′, Ristić 45+1′.

Benfica broke the deadlock around the 10-minute mark courtesy of a sweeping counter-attack which led to Rafa Silva sliding the ball through to David Neres to dispatch past Alex McCarthy’s near-post.

The Portuguese side really showed their quality for the second goal in first half stoppage time with a fine team move setting Mihailo Ristić away down the left to drive into the bottom corner from just outside the box.

James Ward-Prowse turned out for the Saints in the second half despite speculation over his future while there were also minutes for the likes of Gavin Bazunu, Che Adams and Carlos Alcaraz.