FARO. Benfica defeats Farense 3-1. Benfica was truly superior in terms of ball possession (63%) and that was among the factors of its victory.​

The match was played at the Estádio de São Lúis stadium in Faro on Monday and it started at 8:15 pm local time. The referee was Gustavo Fernandes Correia who was helped by Inácio Pereira and Luís Carlos Lopes da Costa. The 4th official was Márcio André Dias Torres.

Match Statistics​

Ball possession

Benfica was in firm control of the ball 63% while Farense was struggling with a 37% ball possession.

Attitude and shots

Benfica had a more offensive attitude with 66 dangerous attacks and 20 shots of which 9 were on target. This is one of the reasons why Benfica won the encounter.​

Farense shot 14 times, 2 on target, 7 off target. On the other side, Benfica shot 20 times, 9 on target, 10 off target.

Cards

Farense received 1 yellow card (Claudio Falcão). On the other side, Benfica received 2 yellow cards (Florentino and João Mário).

Standings

After this contest, Farense stays with 31 points like Rio Ave and Gil Vicente to remain in the 10th place. Talking about the opposition, Benfica will has 73 points to sit in the 2nd place.

Next matches

In the next match in the Liga Portugal, Farense will play away with Estrela Amadora on the 28th of April with a 1-0 head to head stats in favor of Estrela Amadora (1 draw).

Benfica will host Sporting Braga on the 28th of April with a 28-12 head to head in favor of Benfica (6 draws).

Farense – Formation

Farense started with a aggressive line-up (4-3-3).

The manager José Albano Ferreira da Mota decided to play with the following team: Ricardo Velho (7.8), Pastor (6.7), Gonçalo Silva (6.6), Igor Rossi (6.6), Talys (7.0), Claudio Falcão (7.1), Belloumi (6.8), Fabrício Isidoro  (6.3), Rafael Barbosa (7.3), Marco Matias (6.3) and Zé Luís (6.6).

The home team had on the bench: Facundo Cáseres (7.0), Fran Delgado, Zach Muscat, Elves Baldé (6.3), Rui Costa (6.8), Cristian Ponde (6.8), Miguel Carvalho, Talocha and Vítor Gonçalves.

Substitutions

Farense made 5 changes: Zé Luís for Rui Costa (56′), Marco Matias for Elves Baldé (69′), Claudio Falcão for Vítor Gonçalves (90′), Rafael Barbosa for Cristian Ponde (69′) and Fabrício Isidoro  for Facundo Cáseres (55′).

Player of the match: Ricardo Velho​

Following our analysis, the most impressive player for Farense was the goalkeeper: Ricardo Velho. His rating is 7.75. He performed 7 saves.

Benfica – Formation

Benfica started with a 4-2-3-1 line-up (4-2-3-1).

Roger Schmidt played with: Anatoliy Trubin (7.0), Alexander Bah  (9.1), António Silva (7.0), Nicolás Otamendi  (7.7), Álvaro Fernández (8.2), Florentino (7.1), João Mário (7.0), Ángel Di María (8.4), Orkun Kökçü (8.2), Tiago Gouveia (7.3) and Arthur Cabral (8.1).

The following players were sitting on the bench: Fredrik Aursnes (7.0), Casper Tengstedt, João Neves (6.7), Morato, David Neres (6.4), Samuel Soares, Rafa, Benjamín Rollheiser (6.4) and Marcos Leonardo (6.4).

Benfica could not rely on the presence of Fredrik Aursnes (injured).

Substitutions

Benfica made 5 changes: João Neves for Fredrik Aursnes (73′), Tiago Gouveia for David Neres (62′), Arthur Cabral for Marcos Leonardo (84′), Florentino for João Neves (62′) and Ángel Di María for Benjamín Rollheiser (84′).

Player of the match: Alexander Bah ​

Following our analysis, the most impressive player for Benfica was Alexander Bah  even if he didn’t score any goal.

His rating is 9.1 with 36 passes (94% accurate) and 3 key passes. He won 6 duels out of 10. He performed 5 crosses.

Results of the day

These are the results of the day in the Liga Portugal.​

• Farense – Benfica – 1-3