Penalty lottery decides it, Benfica miss out on League Cup final | OneFootball

One less title this season. The women’s team of Benfica failed to qualify for the League Cup final after falling to Torreense. The red team played away against the Oeste side and, after a goalless draw in regular time, the penalty shootout (7-6) resulted in a victory for the home team.

Lena Pauels, Catarina Amado, Christy Ucheibe (Carole Costa, 70’), Diana Gomes, Marit Lund, Pauleta (Carolina Tristão, 70’), Beatriz Cameirão (Anna Gasper, 46’), Caroline Møller, Chandra Davidson (Neide Guedes, 89’), Lúcia Alves, and Cristina Prieto (Diana Silva, 75’) were the players fielded by Ivan Baptista.

Playing at Torreense’s ground, which has been using the Estádio do Jamor as its ‘home’, the red team was never able to fully impose its superiority against a team that showed great quality both defensively and offensively. Despite several chances, Benfica went into halftime with a goalless draw.

In the second half, the story was much the same, with neither side able to find the back of the net. Despite the changes made, Ivan Baptista was never able to break the deadlock. With the final whistle, the draw persisted on the scoreboard and the decision went to penalties, where Torreense was luckier.

A year after winning the League Cup, Benfica fails to retain the title and misses another objective this season, remaining only in contention for the league and the Portuguese Cup, where they have the advantage against Braga. The next fixture for the inspiradoras is scheduled for February 22, with a visit to Marítimo.

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