Porto v Benfica preview
This is the most exciting match of the season. FC Porto vs Benfica, the eternal rivals in Portugal. For Porto it is do or die: win and you are able to keep on dreaming; lose and start preparing for next season.
Benfica are more comfortable, but having to play against Sporting, Vitória and Braga until the end of the season, it might be tricky if they lose this Sunday. José Ricardo Leite previews this weekend’s Clássico.
The Dragons are still somewhat of a wreck. Porto are a team that are not playing well but which have been improving since Fábio Vieira dropped back into midfield and Rodrigo Mora and Pepê started having a more “Samu centred” role.
The Eagles are more than used to coach Bruno Lage by now. Lage usually does not grow in big matches, but he knows the importance of winning on Sunday, especially after the 5-0 humiliation suffered last season at the Dragão, when Roger Schmidt was still in charge.
Martín Anselmi’s tactics might involve a complete carousel to shatter the well-oiled machine developed by Lage over the season. That should be difficult because the Porto team doesn’t yet seem fully on the same page as individual players playing for a collective idea. In contrast, the Eagles appear to be functioning like clockwork in the offensive and defensive parts of the game.
The thing that might rattle Benfica’s players is the stadium environment. The Dragão becomes an absolute volcano when Benfica comes to town. Will environment combined with the ghost of the 5-0 loss in Porto last year affect the morale of the Eagles? On the other side of the coin is the more recent encounter from earlier this season when Benfica thrashed Porto 4-1 at the Estádio da Luz in November.
Predicted lineups
In terms of starting 11, these are my bets for Porto and Benfica.
FC Porto: Diogo Costa; Nehuén Pérez, Stephen Eustáquio, Iván Marcano, Francisco Moura, Martim Fernandes; Alan Varela, Fábio Vieira; Pepê, Rodrigo Mora, Samu Aghehowa
SL Benfica: Anatoliy Trubin; António Silva, Nico Otamendi, Fredrik Aursnes, Álvaro Carreras; Leandro Barreiro, Orkun Kökçü, Andreas Schjelderup, Ángel Di María; Bruma, Pavlidis.
The key player for Porto is Rodrigo Mora, without a doubt. He is a magician and a future Ballon D’Or winner, mark my words. For Benfica, I believe that Orkun Kökçü has to be in his best form in order to crack the FC Porto defensive line with his passes.
The PortuGOAL team has also made their bets for this game in terms of the final result.
|
Albert Carter-Phillips |
Benfica win |
|
Andrew Batista |
Draw |
|
Barney Carter-Phillips |
Benfica win |
|
Danny Pinto |
Benfica win |
|
José Ricardo Leite |
Porto win |
|
Kevin Fernandes |
Draw |
|
Matthew Marshall |
Porto win |
|
Miguel Lourenço Pereira |
Draw |
|
Nathan Motz |
Benfica win |
|
Patrick Ribeiro |
Benfica win |
|
Sahir Bhojwani |
Benfica win |
|
Sean Gillen |
Benfica win |
|
Tom Kundert |
Draw |
|
Zach Lowy |
Draw |
So among the close watcher of the Portuguese game we have 7 predictions of a Benfica win, 5 say a draw, and 2 go for Porto to get the three points. Let us see.
One thing is for sure. At this stage of the season this game is do-or-die for both teams and it is set to be one of the most chaotic games of the season.
In fact, with the recent “war” of club statements between the rivals you can already feel the hostile environment. The city of Porto is already holding its breath in anticipation of the big game. Let it be a game for the ages.