Estoril-Benfica: Eagles' big start not enough for Champions money (videos) | OneFootball

An uncontested victory, but with a bittersweet taste. On Saturday night, Benfica travelled to Amoreira, where they faced Estoril. In the 34th and final round of the Liga Portugal Betclic, the Eagles beat the Canaries 3-1, but it was not enough to reach second place, missing out on qualification for the Champions League. Check out the story of the match.

Trubin, Alexander Bah, Tomás Araújo, Nicolás Otamendi, Samuel Dahl, Richard Ríos, Aursnes, Prestianni, Rafa Silva, Schjedlerup and Pavlidis were the players who made up Benfica’s final starting eleven of the 2025/26 season. During the match, José Mourinho also brought on Amar Dedic, Leandro Barreiro, Dodi Lukebakio, Manu Silva and Bruma.

Playing at the António Coimbra da Mota Stadium, the Lisbon club came out firing and, within a few minutes, built a comfortable lead on the scoreboard. Richard Ríos made it 1-0 for Benfica (7'), shortly afterwards, following a corner kick, Bah made it 2-0 (15') and, in the very next move, Rafa Silva made it 3-0 (16'). The Reds remained in control, but there were no further changes before half-time.

Much like in the first half, the Reds came out eager to do more damage and came very close to making it 4-0, with Rafa Silva (46') and Prestianni (56') wasting their respective chances. In the following minutes, Benfica came close to extending the lead, but without managing to seriously threaten Robles’ goal. In the closing minutes, Ian Cathro’s team managed to reduce the deficit, making it 3-1 (90+1').

With this result, the Lisbon club ended the league campaign on a positive note, but it was not enough to secure a place in the Champions League, as Sporting beat Gil Vicente. With the Liga Portugal Betclic concluded, Benfica finished the competition in third place with 80 points, recording 23 wins and 11 draws.

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