Benfica blow two-goal lead, dumped out of the Cup on penalties | OneFootball

Goodbye to the defense of another title. On the afternoon of Wednesday, May 20, Benfica’s under-23 team bowed out after being eliminated by Santa Clara. In a decisive match, following a goalless draw in the Azores, the Eagles drew 3-3 but lost on penalties (4-1), missing out on the Revelação Cup final.

Arnas Voitinovicius, Duarte Soares, Diogo Rocha, Martim Ferreira, João Capucho, Rafael Quintas, Tiago Freitas, André Gomes (Guilherme Gaspar, 50'), Francisco Neto (João Afonso, 75'), Eduardo Fernandes and Francisco Silva (João Pedro Gonçalves, 75') were the players used in the match against the Azorean side.

In a match attended by José Mourinho, the Reds, after a goalless draw in the Azores, came out determined to settle the tie and were the first to open the scoring through Francisco Neto (9'). Shortly after, the visitors made it 1-1 (13'). However, before half-time, Francisco Silva restored Benfica’s lead by making it 2-1 (26').

At the start of the second half, the Lisbon club suffered a major blow when one of its defenders was shown a red card after a reckless challenge. Reduced to 10 men, the Eagles withstood Santa Clara’s pressure and, against the run of play, managed to make it 3-1 through João Pedro Gonçalves (80'). Near stoppage time, the opposition pulled one back to make it 3-2 (90'). However, the islanders managed to level at 3-3 (90+3').

With the game going to extra time, the Lisbon club played another half-hour a man down but failed to create any danger. With the score unchanged, the match had to be decided from the penalty spot, where Santa Clara did not falter, winning 4-1. As a result, Benfica missed the chance to retain the Revelação Cup title they had won in 2024/25.

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