Cervi's performance always growing

Franco Cervi his growing in the current season under Rui Vitória. The analysis carried out by the Official Website to the statistics of the Argentine in the current National Championship is revealing about the way he has been evolving and the impact he has been having on the pitch.

Having arrived at Luz in 2016/17 coming from Rosário Central - the same club from each Benfica signed Di María in July, 2007 -, Cervi quickly stood out with a beautiful goal against SC Braga in the Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup. However, it is in 2017/18 and in the Liga NOS that the attacking midfielder has been showing what he can do.

After 21 rounds in the Championship, the Eagles number 22 jersey has played in 18 matches and has 1397 minutes on the pitch, which makes in one of the most used players of the squad. In fact, Cervi has in 18 matches practically the same minutes played than in the entire 2016/17 season (1397 against 1408). In this respect, the minutes played has grown exponentially from a season to the other (54,15 minutes in 2015/16 to 77,6 in 2017/18).

If it is true that in the last season he scored twice Liga NOS against just one goal in the current season, it is also true that in 2016/17 he just assisted once, against the seven assists in 2017/18 (leads the team ranking). Franco Cervi is, nowadays, more influent. Only in Liga NOS, until this moment, he had direct participation in eight of the 52 team’s goals, while in 2016/17 he participated only in 3 of the 72 goals scored by Benfica.

When we open the evaluation spectrum to what he did playing for Rosario Central in the Argentinean championship, we come to the conclusion that he never made so many passes for goal. The best he got was four assists in 2014/15.

At the age of 23, Cervi has a huge progression margin and has been seizing the opportunities given by the coach Rui Vitória to become an even more complete footballer.

In a World Cup year, apart from Salvio, the Argentina National Coach, Jorge Sampaoli, has in Cervi another name to follow closely.

CERVI'S NUMBERS IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP