Benfica was handed today its first loss of the 2011-2012 Champions League campaign (and, actually, their first loss of the official season, period).
They had not lost to Manchester United, Twente (former Netherlands champions), Basel (that eliminated Man. U.) and Trabzonspor (that beat inter Milan at the San Siro), all of these teams having been faced by Benfica twice.
But today they had to concede defeat to Zenit St. Petersburg. Not quite the giant to which Benfica may have imagined eventually having to lose to.
Of course, Zenit eliminated FC Porto from the group stage, but still Benfica should have not lost, especially considering that Zenit just played their first competitive match in two months today.
Benfica went ahead after only 20 minutes thanks to an error by Zenit's goalkeeper, who dropped the ball. But the hosts tied the match soon after (minute 27) through a nice volley by Shirokov, which in hindsight should have rung alarm bells regarding Benfica's defending.
Since the warning signs were ignored, it's a little less surprising to note that the second goal for Zenit came after two back-heel passes in Benfica's penalty box. (Just pathetic from the Portuguese giants!)
Although the Lisbon team again got lucky enough to score through Cardozo, with only 3 minutes to go in regulation, they ignored their defensive chores again, when Pereira, the scorer of the first goal, gifted Shirokov with his second on the night, one minute later. The St. Petersburg striker only had to hit the ball in from 3-4 metres away.
2-3 is not a bad score to take to Lisbon, of course, but it should be reminded that Porto failed to beat Zenit, when they really needed to, in Portugal, so... One more warning there, which Benfica better heed if they want to progress!
Highlights:
Zenit 3-2 Benfica [www.online-soccer.ru] by all-goals
No comments:
Post a Comment