Benfica beat Estrela 3-2 in incident-packed encounter | OneFootball

Benfica moved back to within six points of city rivals Sporting after winning a five-goal thriller at Estrela da Amadora tonight.

The Eagles looked set for a routine victory after poor defending from the hosts allowed the visitors to score two set-piece goals in the opening 10 minutes through captain Nicolás Otamendi and an Issiar Dramé own goal.

Estrela hit back when right-back Diogo Travassos tried his luck from distance and a deflection off Otamendi took the ball beyond Trubin and into the corner of the net. Benfica almost immediately restored their two-goal lead, Vangelis Pavlidis hitting an unstoppable shot into the net from 20 yards out.

Estrela refused to lie down and new signing Chico Banza capped an impressive debut when he rounded Trubin and rolled the ball into the net to make it 3-2 at the start of the second half.

A nervous Bruno Lage was barking out instructions when he wasn’t looking at his watch, and Arthur Cabral, possibly playing his final game in a Benfica shirt, had the chance to ease the Benfica coach’s anxiety in the closing minutes but missed a penalty.

It mattered not as the visitors saw out the game to register their first Primeira Liga win on the road since beating Nacional in Madeira in mid-December.