Pressure and goals: a growing relationship

Benfica's final pre-season match of 2024/25 kicks off at 8 pm on Friday, August 2, against Fulham at the Estádio Algarve. It's an opportunity for the eagles to continue the process of football consolidation, based on constant pressure and a natural attraction to goals, as the recent Eusébio Cup match against Feyenoord confirmed.

In the last two matches, at the Catedral – against Brentford and Feyenoord –, in which there was passionate support from the Benfica fans for Roger Schmidt's team, underpinned the conviction of full-bodied football in competitive terms. Next up is Fulham, a competitor in the English league, as a test of the various solutions the Benfica coach has at his disposal.

Looking back at the friendly match against the Dutch runners-up, it's clear that Benfica's ability to put pressure on the ball carrier is an asset for the coming season, and they're always looking to the back of the net, as evidenced by the average of 3.2 goals per match, the result of the 16 scored in the five games.

When it came to using the players at his disposal, Roger Schmidt opted to give some of the squad a greater competitive edge against Brentford and Feyenoord. Against the English side, Tomás Araújo, Morato, Aursnes, Florentino and Barreiro played 71 minutes. Against the team from Rotterdam, Bah and Tomás Araújo played 65 minutes, Pavlidis played 77 minutes, while Florentino and Aursnes played 85 minutes.

Goalkeeper Trubin played the full 90 minutes in these two matches, and Barreiro played the full 90 minutes against the Dutch side. In fact, the midfielder signed last summer was the only outfield player to play a full game in the five matches played.

In the first three tests, against Farense, Celta de Vigo and Almería, coach Roger Schmidt's plan, it should be remembered, included using completely different teams in each half.

Looking back over the five tests carried out up to the end of July, Roger Schmidt used 30 players, half of whom (15) were nurtured at the Club. In the top five of the ranking of players with the most minutes in pre-season, representing all three sectors of the team, are Barreiro (296'), Florentino and Aursnes (291'), Tomás Araújo (271') and Pavlidis (257').

Pavlidis has become more and more robust as the team's main attacking reference: in addition to the involvement and fluidity of play he displays with the more advanced units, he has scored in every game he has played. He has scored seven goals in the total of 16 scored by the eagles in the preparation period so far. Prestianni (2), Rollheiser (2), Arthur Cabral (2), João Mário (1), Florentino (1) and Beste (1) have also made a dent in the opposition's net.

Between forwards, midfielders and defenders, seven Benfica players contributed to the 16 goals scored in this preparatory period, a number of shots that averages 3.2 per match.

In terms of assists, eight players linked their actions to a number of the team's key moments in matches: Beste, Álvaro Carreras, Neres, Aursnes, João Mário, Marcos Leonardo, Tiago Gouveia and João Rego all provided assists.

While it's true that Benfica wreak havoc on the opposition's defenses in every quarter of the game, they're most effective in the first two, 1'-15' and 16'-30': eight goals, four in each period.

The diversity of finishing is evident in the fact that eight goals were scored with the right foot, seven with the left foot and one with a header, while seven were scored outside the penalty box and nine inside it.

After their sixth friendly match of the 2024/25 pre-season, this Friday, August 2, against Fulham, in the Algarve Trophy, Benfica begin their official competition on Sunday, August 11, at 6 pm, when they travel to Famalicão, on matchday 1 of the Liga Betclic.