Benfica’s bench continues to yield in the Liga NOS

The victory against Paços de Ferreira is just one case that illustrates the paradigm that at Benfica everyone counts, with the substitutes bench yielding goals and points in Liga NOS.

Raúl and Seferovic come on during a match in which, despite the Four-time champions' forcing, the unfavorable result was not being easy to overturn and they had a direct influence on the goals from Jonas and Rafa, which culminated in the 1-3 result.

The coach Rui Vitória praised that in the post-match statements, starting by explaining why he had changed the team: “We made changes in the team to add up weight in the central area. The players who came in and the ones who were already there, above all, are to be congratulated.”

All players count, that is more than proven, and Raúl has been one of the strongest coming off the bench and putting his name in the history of the match. It happened against Belenenses, Rio Ave and Boavista at Luz, and at Braga and at Paços de Ferreira. At Braga he scored the 1-3, he also scored at Luz against Rio Ave (Gameweek 21) and Boavista (GW23), and now, at Estádio Capital do Móvel, he came on to participate in the three goals, in two of them he was the last benfiquista to touch the ball before the goal scorer.

Although he does not like to individualize, Raúl's performance at Paços de Ferreira did not go unnoticed by the benfiquista coach, who praised the player, considering that the Mexican “came on very well”, remembering that he is a player who “has depth and aggressiveness, and that he ended up freeing Jonas for the goals”.

Still at Paços de Ferreira, highlight for the Swiss Seferovic. He came on at 86’ and two minutes later he made the pass for Jonas’  that put Benfica in the lead. “The clearer image of the spirit and the will to win is Seferovic. He came on when the result was 1-all, then when we were already winning by 1-2 and he was playing as a left winger, he helped Cervi”, highlighted Rui Vitória.

If we go back, we can see the importance of the collective in the matches of Benfica is not something new. The goals and the assists that earned the team points started at Chaves. There, Rafa, who had come on at 69’, made the pass for the decisive goal from Seferovic. Meanwhile, the Portuguese international has been seizing Salvio's injury– sustained against Rio Ave – to provide skills on behalf of the collective. In the dérbi,he made the shot that resulted in the penalty kick that would give the equalizer (1-1); and he assisted Raúl against Rio Ave at Luz after an excellent collective play from Benfica.

Other examples, the same importance

Throughout the championship there have been other examples! At Guimarães, Samaris come on at 64’ and scored at 76’; in the following round, against V. Setúbal at home, Zivkovic entered the pitch at 60’ and 87’; at Moreira de Cónegos, João Carvalho came on at 73’ and one minute later assisted Jonas for the 0-2; Diogo Gonçalves, at Portimão, came on in the injury time and still managed to participate in the goal scored by Zivkovic, and against Boavista, at Luz, he participated in the build-up of Raúl’s goal.

There are 10 battles left until the end of the season and, in fact, all count for Rui Vitória, and with practical implications in the final result. Next comes the home match against Marítimo, Saturday, at 6:15 pm and the tickets are on sale.

MATCHES IN THE LIGA NOS WITH INFLUENCE FROM THE SUBSTITUTES BENCH

Text: Marco Rebelo

Pics: Archive / SL Benfica