Rafa Silva just arrived at Benfica, already making an impact | OneFootball

Starter in the last two games (Alverca and Santa Clara), Rafa Silva has already "changed" the way Benfica plays. The former Portuguese international has led José Mourinho's team to play a different style of football compared to when Georgiy Sudakov was playing.

The data from the "GoalPoint" website shows that the 32-year-old forward is starting to carry the team on his back, with his runs across the green pitch. This is a very different attacking style from that of the Ukrainian international.

Signed from Besiktas in January, Rafa is already making a difference in progressive carries (with 4 out of 7), having lost the ball only once. To explain, progressive carries are accelerations with the ball that bring the Eagles closer to the opposing goals by more than 25 percent of the starting distance.

Sudakov is more about distribution, as indicated by Opta's data. With a passing accuracy of 82.33 percent, the Ukrainian international is the second Benfica player who creates the most goal opportunities in the Liga Portugal Betclic, with 35, only surpassed by Fredrik Aursnes, who has 38.

This season, wearing the Besiktas and Benfica jerseys, Rafa Silva - valued at 5 million euros - played 20 official matches: Four in the Liga Portugal, 10 in the Turkish League, four in the Conference League, and two in the Europa League qualifying phase. In the 1,572 minutes played, the player scored five goals and provided three assists.

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