Liga Bwin: X-ray of the Vitória SC-Benfica match

Benfica, leader of the Liga Bwin entering matchday 8, will face Vitória SC in a match scheduled for this Saturday, October 1st, at 8:30 pm, at the Estádio D. Afonso Henriques, in Guimarães.

Back to the competition after the international break, the eagles face a team from Guimarães that sits in 9th place in the Liga Bwin, with 10 points, as a result of three wins, one draw, and three losses.

It is a clash full of tradition, this will 179th official match between the two teams. The Reds have a record of 124 wins (70%) and 29 draws (16%), while away from home they have won 50 games (57%) and drawn 18 (18%).

In 2022/23, Benfica won all 13 official matches played, leads the Liga Bwin standings, with seven wins in as many matches (21 points), they are second best attack with 19 goals scored (2,71 per match) and has the best defense with three goals conceded (together with Casa Pia).

The players coached by Roger Schmidt, who beat Marítimo 5-0 in the last round of the championship have presented impressive records in some aspects. Benfica is the leader of the 10 best-ranked leagues with the highest ball possession and the team that allows the fewest shots allows among all the teams in these competitions.

Looking only at the data of the Liga Bwin 2022/23, based on the collection of the Wyscout platform, we see that Benfica is the team that has made more crosses (168 against 93 in the case of the vimaranenses), and the second that has made more shots (128 against 81) and the one that had the most corners in its favor (64),  while Vitória is the team that has seen the most cards (31) and the third with the most fouls committed (106). As we have seen, in ball possession the Reds impose themselves (68.1% average per game), also having the highest number of passes in the competition (4610).

Going back to the last matchday, when Vitória drew 2-2 when they traveled to Arouca, coach Moreno fielded a team in 3x4x3 with the following starting XI: Bruno Varela, André Amaro, Ibrahima Bamba, Villanueva, Zé Carlos, André André, Tiago Silva, Hélder Sá, Rúben Lameiras, Nélson da Luz and Anderson Oliveira.