This could, and maybe should have been the weekend that Porto’s excellent recent form finally resulted in them going to the top of Liga NOS. Nuno’s side fulfilled their half of the bargain, sweeping aside bottom team Tondela on Friday night as they prepared for this week’s big Champions League clash with Juventus.
Benfica, five days after a wearying European tie of their own with Borussia Dortmund – and rarely have Rui Vitória’s side been used as such a punchbag over the last couple of seasons, even if they eventually eked out a win – ended the weekend’s games with a trip to Braga, a venue at which they have only begun to turn around a poor record in recent seasons.
For 80 minutes, onlookers sympathetic to Porto would have rubbed their hands, as it looked as if a leggy Benfica’s week was catching up with them. Then came Kostas Mitroglou. Surrounded by a quartet of defenders as his team counter-attacked, little looked on for him as he received a pass from Raúl Jiménez. In fact, the most notable aspect of the move on second look was seeing the Greece striker opening his palms wide, asking rhetorically what he was supposed to do from here.
In the event, he got his head down, somehow bludgeoned through and poked an unlikely winner past Marafona in the home side’s goal. It was Mitroglou’s 11th Liga goal of the campaign from 16 starts, but his 20th in all competitions, marking the second successive season in which he’s reached said landmark. Not bad for a player treated as a laughing stock after his difficult time in the English Premier League.
It was exactly what was needed at the precise moment that it was needed. Rarely has a winning goal been so fitting to a game. This match was more perspiration than inspiration, with Benfica having 54.2% of possession but creating little, having six efforts on goal to Braga’s 14. Mitroglou’s strike was one of only two on target by Vitória’s men.
The goal arrived at a moment when the game appeared to be drifting to an inevitable goalless conclusion. It was also a product of the situation, as that draw would have done little for either team’s objectives, keeping Benfica from top spot and Braga at arm’s length from third place. Braga’s need to push, to try and make something happen, left a sliver of light for the leaders to exploit.
In the circumstances, it was hard not to have sympathy. Os Arsenalistas had to try and win without overcommitting – that would have been crazy against the best team in Portugal, and contrary to their own strengths – and were facing this mammoth task with a string of absentees. Emiliano Velázquez, Mauro, Ahmed Hassan and their most creative player Wilson Eduardo, with six goals and eight assists in the Liga so far, were all out. Rafael Assis, freshly signed from Chaves in the window, has the potential to develop into an influential player and has made 6 tackles per game since arriving, but is still settling and was just returning from injury himself.
Worse still, excuses are unlikely to cut it. Jorge Simão, rightly lauded for his excellent work in getting modest, newly-promoted Chaves a foothold in the top flight, which they have built on since his exit and currently sit sixth, is a coach under scrutiny, with a run now stretching to five without a win in Liga action supplemented with the huge disappointment of losing the Taça da Liga final to modest Moreirense. It’s their worst run since spring 2015.
After Sunday night’s loss, Braga are six points behind third-placed Sporting, and two ahead of fifth-placed Vitória Guimarães in what had looked like a really tight battle for the final Champions League spot just a few weeks ago. It’s worth recalling that Simão’s predecessor José Peseiro was fired in mid-December with the club in fourth spot, only one point shy of Sporting in third and six points behind leaders Benfica. President António Salvador is not renowned for his patience, either.
If there’s any room for optimism, it’s that Simão can point to a side made of stern stuff, who might have taken control of this game had Rodrigo Battaglia’s first-half header gone in rather than hitting the bar. Braga are ripe for improvement when their injured players return, and they have a forgiving fixture list between now and the end of the season, with the visits of Porto and Sporting to Estádio Municipal providing an opportunity to close gaps.
Benfica, on the other hand, have no such concerns. It won’t get much tougher than this and once again, they showed that they will be mightily hard to separate from their title – especially with Mitroglou’s doggedness covering up a multitude of difficulties.
