Benfica beat Sporting CP on penalties to claim the Taça da Liga
Benfica beat Sporting Clube de Portugal in a penalty shootout to win the 2024/2025 Taça da Liga at Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pessoa in Leiria.
The Eagles opened the scoring in the 29th minute, Ángel Di María assisting Andreas Schjelderup who danced past Eduardo Quaresma and found the bottom corner.
Sporting equalised on the stroke of half-time after Florentino Luís fouled Maxi Araújo in the box. Viktor Gyökeres converted the penalty despite Anatoliy Trubin getting a big piece of the ball.
The second half failed to live up to the excitement on show in the opening 45 minutes. the contest going straight to a penalty shootout after 90 minutes.
The first 13 penalty takers converted their spot kicks with confidence before Francisco Trincão stepped up, his low effort saved by Trubin which handed the Eagles the title and bragging rights.
Game on in Leiria
It was an exciting start in Leiria where both teams came out with attacking intent. Geovany Quenda fired the first shot in anger with Anatoliy Trubin standing strong at his near post.
Benfica went close when Tomás Araújo’s cross towards Andreas Schjelderup was slapped away by Franco Israel, Ángel Di María’s follow up effort headed away by Morten Hjulmand.
Schjelderup scores
The Eagles opened the scoring in the 29th minute and it was no surprise that Di María was involved. He went on run through the middle and got the ball to Schjelderup, the 20-year-old easily skipping inside Eduardo Quaresma and curling a low effort into the bottom corner.
Vangelis Pavlidis headed wide before Quaresma missed a great chance to equalise. The right-back latched onto Ousmane Diomande’s defence splitting pass, doing well to get past Álvaro Carreras and Nicolás Otamendi but unable to hit the target with his left foot.
Gyökeres equalises
Sporting maintained the pressure and were awarded a penalty on the stroke of half-time. Maxi Araújo played a 1-2 Viktor Gyökeres before being brought down by Florentino Luís, Gyökeres sending the spot kick down the middle with Trubin kicking the ball into the roof of the net.
Bruno Lage brought on Kerem Aktürkoglu for Schjelderup at the break.
Di María and Orkun Kökçü tested Israel but the pace of the game had slowed down. Both managers went to their bench with Rui Borges bringing on Iván Fresneda for Quaresma, Lage replacing Araújo, Fredrik Aursnes and Pavlidis with Alexander Bah, Leandro Barreiro and Zeki Amdouni.
The changes kept coming with João Simoes and Geny Catamo making way for Zeno Debast and Conrad Harder, Kökçü taken off for Renato Sanches.
Straight to penalties
The game went straight to a penalty shootout where the first 13 spot kicks were converted. Francisco Trincão was the first player to miss and it proved decisive, Trubin saving his spot kick which gave the Eagles the title.
The victory give Benfica bragging rights and some confidence after it was dented by Braga in their previous Primeira Liga clash. Andreas Schjelderup started both games in Leiria and took his chance but his future in Lisbon remains in doubt due to the 20-year-old wanting more minutes.
Rui Borges got another look at his new side and won't be too disappointed at losing the final on penalties. His tactical alterations will take time to be adopted but the early signs are good, especially the combinations between Maxi Araújo and Geovany Quenda down the left wing.
Highlights
Related: Benfica breeze past Braga 3-0 in the Taça da Liga Semi-Finals
Related: Viktor Gyökeres strikes as Sporting beat Porto in Taça da Liga semi-final