Benfica win 2-1 to climb off bottom after four games without a win | OneFootball

Benfica’s under-23s claimed their first win in the Next Gen League by beating União de Leiria 2-1. ‘Forced’ to move off the bottom of the competition, the Eagles made six changes to the starting XI, and the alterations introduced by Vítor Vinha ultimately paid off.

The team in red and white were almost winning from the start. After eight minutes, Tomás Soares, called up from the B team, opened the scoring. The move came from an excellent action by Isaac Ferreira, who found the forward in behind. A misread by Leo Mascaró, who failed to anticipate the path of the rebound, ended up making the finish easier for the Benfica player.

União de Leiria responded and equalised in the 22nd minute. Tomás Bernardo showed great determination in a move that began after winning the ball back in the opposition half. After Tauzy failed to finish in the best way, the 20-year-old midfielder regained possession near the byline and set up Xavier Cavaco, who delicately guided it into the back of Voitinovicius’ net.

Benfica’s response came right at the start of the second half. Just 55 seconds after the restart, Deivid received the ball on the right, cut inside near the edge of the box and scored a brilliant goal. The shot even came off the crossbar, but that did not take away from the quality of the finish by the 18-year-old forward, who scored for the first time in the red and white shirt. The task became more complicated in the 74th minute, when Rui Silva was shown a red card and left Benfica down to 10 men.

Even so, the team managed to withstand União de Leiria’s late pressure and held on for a 2-1 win. With this result, the Eagles move off the bottom spot and secure an important victory to build confidence in the Next Gen League.

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