Primeira Liga
Porto Defeat Benfica In The O Classico
Ze Luis and Moussa Marega Help Porto Stun Benfica
Goals from Ze Luis and Moussa Marega helped Porto defeat Benfica in the first O Classico of the season at the Estadio da Luz.
Porto took the lead after 21 minutes. Benfica failed to deal with a corner with the ball falling to Ze Luis who simply tapped the ball into the net.
Moussa Marega sealed the win late on, coolly slotting the ball past Odisseas Vlachodimos in the Benfica goal.
Porto were the better side throughout, as Benfica struggled to create any clear cut chances.
The victory for the Dragoes helps alleviate some of the early pressure on Porto boss Sergio Conceicao. It has been a disappointing start to the season after crashing out of the Champions League and losing to newly promoted Gil Vicente on the opening weekend of the Primeira Liga season.
However, this victory against their great rivals and their overall performance will give Conceicao some breathing space.
For Benfica, after a superb start to the season, this will be a crushing disappointment. It was also their first league defeat under Bruno Lage who had a record of 20 wins in 21 league games ahead of the O Classico.
This result won’t define where the Primeira Liga title will end up this season. But it is set to be another close title race between these two great rivals.
Ze Luis Strikes For Porto
Porto started on the front foot in the early stages and were looking threatening going forward but weren’t creating anything clear cut.
On 17 minutes, a superb driving run by Ze Luis caused Benfica’s defense all sorts of problems. He passed it to Luis Diaz who’s goal bound shot was brilliantly blocked by Benfica defender Ruben Dias.
Three minutes later, Ze Luis had a great chance to put Porto ahead. A great through ball from Moussa Marega set the Cape Verde international through on goal. However, his shot was well saved by Odisseas Vlachodimos in the Benfica goal.
From the resulting corner, Porto took the lead. The corner was poorly dealt with by the Benfica defense. The ball fell to Ze Luis who tapped the ball into the net from close range.
It was the first goal that Benfica have conceded this season in the Primeira Liga.
Benfica were struggling to get strikers Raul De Tomas and Haris Seferovic into the game. Both of whom were fairly anonymous in the first half an hour.
Porto boss Sergio Conceicao would have been much the happier after his sides first half display.
Moussa Marega Seals The Win For Porto
Porto started the second half like they did the first, on the front foot.
Midfielder Luis Diaz had a shot from 20-yards-out, which was brilliantly saved by Vlachodimos in the Benfica goal.
Benfica started to up the tempo as they tried to get an equalizer. However, their final pass was lacking and they struggled to test Augustin Marchesin in the Porto goal.
On 77 minutes, Porto had a glorious chance to seal all three points. Benfica were caught on the counter attack. The ball fell to Luis Diaz who played a brilliant through pass to Moussa Marega.
The Mail international only had the keeper to beat but somehow blazed his shot over the crossbar to spurn a great chance to win the game for Porto.
With four minutes to go, Marega sealed all three points for Porto. A ball over the top from Otavio set Moussa Marega in on goal. This time he showed great composure and coolly slotted the ball into the net to seal the win.
Huge Win For Sergio Conceicao
It is fair to say it has been a shaky start to the season for Porto.
They crashed out of the Champions League losing to Russian side Krasnodar. After getting a great result in Russia, the manner in which they imploded at home conceding three goals in the first 34 minutes was particularly worrying.
Also, a defeat on the opening weekend of the season against newly promoted Gil Vicente further piled the pressure on Sergio Conceicao.
If they had lost to Benfica, they would have been six points behind their great rivals after just three games. It may still have been early on in the season but psychologically it would have been a huge blow.
This is why this is a massive win, despite it being so early on in the season. Porto bossed the game for large spells and will take great heart from this result against the defending champions.
Poor Performance From Benfica
It was a bitterly poor night for Benfica. They came into the O Classico in great form having scored seven goals in their first two league games.
Given how Porto have started the season, you would have expected Benfica to continue their great form. However, they were second best for large spells of this game.
They struggled to create anything and give strikers Raul De Tomas and Haris Seferovic chances to score.
It is their first defeat under Bruno Lage since the Portuguese manager took charge in January earlier this year. They face a tough trip to Braga next week and it will be interesting to see how they can bounce back.
Nobody at Benfica will be panicking especially given that the season is only three games old. But they will know it will be a tough fight between themselves and Porto if they are to defend their Primeira Liga title.
Next up for Porto is a home game against Vitoria on Sunday. Benfica take on Braga also on Sunday.
Written by David Coates
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