Only 4 remain from last Benfica v Santa Clara, Lage’s return | OneFootball

363 days after starring in Bruno Lage's return to the eagles, Benfica and Santa Clara face each other again in the Portugal League. Although this time the clash is two days earlier than last year, the real difference lies in the squad that the coach of the reds has at his disposal, considering that it has completely changed since the last time Benfica hosted Santa Clara at Luz for the Championship.

Of the first eleven starters launched by Bruno Lage on his return to the technical command of Benfica, only four may repeat the starting position this Friday, September 12, at 8:15 pm, at Luz Stadium: Anatoliy Trubin, António Silva, Nicolás Otamendi and Vangelis Pavlidis.

The starting eleven that marked Lage's second stint with the eagles was as follows: Trubin; Bah, Otamendi, António Silva, Carreras; Florentino, Kokçu, Rolheiser; Di María, Pavlidis and Akturkoglu. Of the seven players who are no longer available for the Portuguese coach in this match, only one is absent due to injury, while the rest left the reds in the last transfer markets.

Of the absentees, Rolheiser left the reds for Santos in the winter market, while Álvaro Carreras (Real Madrid), Di Maria (Rosario Central), Kokçu (Besiktas) and Akturkoglu (Fenerbahçe) left Benfica in this summer market. Alexander Bah is the only loss that remains in Luz, but cannot be considered by Bruno Lage due to a serious injury sustained in February of this year.

If we go even further, only nine of the 20 footballers who were on the match sheet in September 2024 can be used by Bruno Lage in this round of the Portugal League:

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