Boca Juniors 2-2 Benfica: Both sides finish with 10 players as shares spoiled in heated Miami affair | OneFootball

Boca Juniors blew a two-goal lead against Benfica in a game which was as much boxing match than football game.

The Argentine giants galloped into a 2-0 lead in the first half courtesy of goals from Miguel Merentiel and Rodrigo Battaglia after spending the majority of the first half fouling Benfica players at every available opportunity.

Eventually they overstepped the mark, and after Carlos Palacios flew into Nicolás Otamendi in the box, Benfica were awarded a penalty from which Ángel Di María reduced the deficit.

Come the second half, substitute Andrea Belotti was dismissed after a series of heated events, and Otamendi would equalise before Nicolás Figal was also given his marching orders for a particularly robust tackle on Florentino.

At fulltime, both sides settled for a share of the spoils with what may well be the creation of a new intercontinental rivalry.

As it happened

There’s a popular saying in Argentine football: viveza criolla. It doesn’t have a literal translation in English, but it largely refers to a sense of cunningness, or more accurately, the art of practicing the dark arts to win. It’s not cheating. It doesn’t stain victory. Instead, as far as they’re concerned, it makes it all the more beautiful.

And so, when 35-time champions of Argentina Boca Juniors took on Benfica for the first time in history, and in their first match at the Club World Cup, there was no real surprise that there was an element of viveza criolla to be had.

In this instance, it manifested itself in the realisation of footballing stereotypes. The European side dominated possession, patiently looked to forge opportunities, and for the first 20 minutes, looked like the only team trying to score. The Argentine side, for their part, kicked the living daylights out of them.

Of the 11 fouls committed in the first half, Boca were responsible for eight, which rather sums up their approach to the game.

And yet, at first anyway, it worked. For all of Benfica’s early possession, their best chance came from Renato Sanches, who could only force an effort wide of the far post after an inch perfect cutback from Álvaro Carreras. On 18 minutes, Bruma would hit the post from an offside position, and shortly after that, everything changed.

Benfica had left very few men behind and their defensive line too high. On the counter in the 21st minute, left back Lautaro Blanco squared up Florentino on the byline, nutmegged him, broke towards the box and played a low, accurate cross towards the near post where Merentiel was waiting. All the ball needed was a deft touch, and that’s exactly what it got, just enough to see it slip past Anatoliy Trubin and into the back of the net.

Their first shot on target gave them the lead, and their second doubled it. Having won a corner after another slick counterattack – when they wanted to, Boca were able to show they were more football team than boxing gym – Kevin Zenon whipped the ball deep, all the way to Ayrton Costa to nod back into the crowd of bodies. There, ready to rise highest and head was Battaglia. It was his second goal of the season, and his side’s second of the game.

Eventually, though, Boca’s luck would run out. What initially looked like a fairly innocuous coming together between Palacios and Otamendi in the box was reviewed first by VAR and then by referee César Ramos on the monitor. As he was viewing the incident, he brandished the first red card of the match – but not for Palacios, the dismissal instead going to Ander Herrera, who had already been withdrawn through injury.

Upon further inspection, the clash resembled more of a late challenge, a knee to the back, and Benfica were awarded a penalty – although they likely wouldn’t have been had Otamendi not rolled around the floor for a minute to attract attention. There’s your viveza criolla.

Up stepped Di María, the icon of Argentine football, to wait for Augustín Marchesín to lean to his left before suavely slotting the penalty the other way. Benfica were alive again, and the Hard Rock Stadium, which had resembled La Bombanera such was the blue and yellow carnival occurring inside, suddenly became much more subdued.

Alas, the second half of this game of football actually wasn’t much of a game of football at all and was instead more of a royal rumble with a ball in the middle.

Emotions finally boiled over for Carreras when, after fouling Zenon, he crashed into Battaglia off the ball. Kerem Aktürkoğlu proceeded to shove Tomás Belmonte to the ground and, not two minutes later, Belotti’s right boot flew into the head of Costa after chasing a loose ball, earning himself a red card and an early bath. Of course, all of this was likely Boca’s aim all along: Benfica had fallen into the trap and been punished for it. Or so it seemed.

Among all of that, it may have been easy to forget there was a football match afoot and, in the final 10 minutes, Benfica levelled proceedings. Having created precious little from open play, a corner would have to do, and substitute Orkun Kökçü’s delivery was teasing. The man on the end of it didn’t need to be asked twice: who else but Otamendi? The defensive goal-scorer extraordinaire powered home his eighth goal of the season, and likely, as a boyhood River Plate fan, his favourite of the lot.

With two minutes left to play, Figal was also sent off for crashing into Florentino what felt like minutes after the ball had left the Portuguese’s foot. The final stages of the game were played with 10 players apiece, the stadium resembling more of an amphitheatre than ever before. There was noticeable fatigue, the survivors battered and bruised, arrival at the final whistle seemingly more important than securing two more points.

And so, the spoils were shared, and Boca Juniors made their opening statement, reading something along the lines of: do not mess with us, or viveza criolla will mess with you instead.

The lineups