Ten brilliant minutes towards the Final Four

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS

In the first match in this edition of the League Cup, Benfica beat Santa Clara by 3-0, with three goals in less than ten minutes, scored by Di María (stunner) and Pavlidis (brace), who began the match on the bench. The quarter-final match was held this Wednesday evening, October 30, at Estádio da Luz.

Even before the starting whistle, Saviola, Benfica's 2009/10 champion, was present on the Cathedral pitch, and the Benfica fans paid tribute to him by applauding him effusively.

"I'm very happy, this has been my home for a long time. I have Benfica in my heart. I'm grateful for all the affection I've always received," said the Argentinian to BTV, and the statements were also played live on the stadium's loudspeakers.

Compared to those selected for the win against Rio Ave (the Eagles' last match), Bruno Lage made four changes to the starting eleven, replacing Tomás Araújo, Kökcü, Di María and Pavlidis with António Silva, Renato Sanches - who made his first start in his second spell with Glorioso - Amdouni and Arthur Cabral.

The starting line-up was made up of Trubin, Bah, António Silva, Otamendi, Álvaro Carreras, Aursnes, Renato Sanches, Amdouni, Aktürkoğlu, Beste and Arthur Cabral.

During the break, the club's women's water polo and volleyball teams, as well as the men's athletics team, and canoeists Fernando Pimenta and Messias Baptista, were honored on the Cathedral pitch for their most recent achievements.

Opening the second half, in the 49th minute, with Di María and Kökcü on the pitch - brought on at the start of this stage in place of Amdouni and Renato Sanches - Aursnes fell inside Santa Clara's penalty area, but nothing was called.

In the 67th minute, Pavlidis replaced Beste, and Bruno Lage's substitution had an almost immediate impact.

In the 71st minute, following a good team build-up, the striker went almost to the touchline on the left and crossed to the far post, where Di María hit the net with a phenomenal volley shot into the top right-hand corner of the goal (1-0). A brilliant goal, scored by players from the bench, which the 48,639 spectators in Luz will surely never forget!

The striker's brace came with Schjelderup (who came on for Aktürkoğlu in the 78th minute) on the pitch in the 80th minute. Following a corner, Di María crossed into the heart of the area from the right. With a touch of class, Otamendi laid it off to Pavlidis and, on the edge of the goal area, he didn't miss (3-0). The VAR still analyzed the move for a possible irregular position, but the goal was validated. Three goals in less than 10 minutes!

Five minutes from the end of regulation time, Bruno Lage ran out of substitutions: Kaboré replaced Bah. 

In doing so, the Glorioso secured qualification to the final four of the League Cup and remain 100 percent victorious in domestic competitions since Bruno Lage returned to the team's technical helm.

Benfica return to action this Saturday, November 2, at 6 pm, when they travel to the Estádio Algarve to face Farense on matchday 10 of the Liga Betclic.