Luís Avelãs rues Benfica star not scoring: deserved a goal | OneFootball

Benfica secured qualification for the third Europa League qualifying round by beating St. Gallen 5-0 at the Estádio da Luz, overturning the 2-1 deficit from the first leg. In his last game at the Luz, António Silva delivered the goods, something Luís Avelãs acknowledged.

"António Silva produced a great performance, regardless of whether it was a farewell or not. Defensively, but above all going forward. He deserved to score and had chances to do so", he wrote in his column for the newspaper Record.

The journalist also highlighted the performance of Vangelis Pavlidis, who scored a "poker." "Ever since he arrived at the Luz, he has been one of the team’s main references. He scores regularly, but he is not limited to that. He is a highly useful striker", it reads.

Luís Avelãs also analyzed the win and stressed the difference in individual quality between the two teams. "Very simply put: Benfica’s squad is incomparably stronger than St. Gallen’s. And Marco Silva did not even need to start some of the heavy hitters. The Eagles are (much) better in every possible respect. That is why, more than explaining this thrashing, it is hard to understand how Benfica lost in Switzerland. Yesterday, with more attitude, desire, speed and acceptable finishing... it was merely a stroll against a fragile opponent, far too foul-prone and with little defensive discipline", he opined.

In conclusion, the journalist argues that Marco Silva has reason to smile with this result. "Marco Silva satisfied? Of course, because in the space of a week, and with some key pieces still coming in gradually, the improvement in performance was clear. However, it is only fair to say that the opposition was weak. There will not be many ‘cupcakes’ like this during the season", he concluded.

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