Liga Betclic: x-ray of the Gil Vicente-Benfica match

Benfica will visit Gil Vicente this Saturday, August 26, in Matchday 3 of the Liga Betclic. Both teams have 3 points in the league and will face each other for the 50th time in History.

The superiority of the eagles is clear: 36 wins and seven draws. In the previous season (2022/23), Benfica won 0-2 at Estádio Cidade de Barcelos, with goals scored by Chiquinho and Grimaldo.

Benfica is one of the two teams that shoot the most in the competition, totaling 40 shots, with 35% on target. Gil Vicente is 19th, but with a good efficiency rate: they have the second best attack of the Championship with six goals in two games.

The eagles' offensive balancing is also illustrated by the number of touches inside the opposing areas: the team led by Roger Schmidt counts 59 against only 17 of the next opponent.

Rafa (Benfica) and Fujimoto (Gil Vicente) are the top scorers of their respective teams, with two goals each.

Revealing adaptability to the various moments of the game, Benfica leads the rankings of the Liga Betclic in dribbling (89 with 46.1% success) and passing (1107 with 85.8% effectiveness).

With 1002 passes attempted in the two previous rounds, Gil Vicente shows to be a team tailored for possession, something illustrated by the best record of passes per minute of ball possession in the Championship: 16,2.

Defensively, both teams show high levels of effectiveness in duels. The reds are the team with the best percentage in this chapter (67.4% won), while the minhotos, with 61.2% won, are 3rd among the 18 teams. 

In the (2-0) win against Estrela da Amadora, Roger Schmidt called the following XI: Samuel Soares, Bah, António Silva, Otamendi, Aursnes, João Neves, Kökcü, Di María, João Mário, Rafa and Arthur Cabral.

Vítor Campelos, coach of Gil Vicente, started the game with a 4x2x3x1 formation, with Andrew, Zé Carlos, Gabriel Pereira, Rúben Fernandes, Leonardo Buta, Mory Gbane, Pedro Tiba, Maxime Dominguez, Fujimoto, Marlon Douglas and Baturina, in the loss at Vitória SC stadium (2-1).