Benfica blot their copybook against Santa Clara in fresh hellish run | OneFootball

September 12 will certainly be a night to forget for all Benfica fans. After a high-octane start to the season, as they headed into their 5th match in national competitions, Benfica ended up not tasting victory, putting an end to their unbeaten streak.

The previous match, against Alverca, seemed to be a premonition for last night’s clash. On an afternoon where the Eagles struggled considerably, they still managed to come away with the win; however, the formula didn’t work this time and, against the Azoreans, Bruno Lage’s team saw a streak that had lasted since the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira, on July 31 against Sporting, go down the drain.

After returning from the international break, where Benfica only had the full squad together on the eve of the match, Bruno Lage thus gets off on the wrong foot in what will be the first hellish cycle of the season, which has already started poorly with a draw against the Azoreans, and will continue until the Clássico against Porto on October 5.

After the slip-up against Vasco Matos’s islanders, the Eagles from Setúbal will return to the pitch next Tuesday, September 16, for the start of the Champions League, against Qarabag. Then follow three rounds of Liga Portugal Betclic: AVS SAD on September 20, a rescheduled match with Rio Ave (23rd), and a game against Gil Vicente (26th).

If the matches over the next two weeks were already going to be complicated for Benfica, who will try to pick up as many points as possible, things get even tougher in the last week of September, heading into October, with the Glorious traveling to London on the 30th of this month to visit Chelsea and, five days later, the Reds hit the road again, this time heading to Invicta to play Porto.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.