Benfica beat Feyenoord to win the Eusebio Cup

This Sunday, Benfica beat Feyenoord 5-0 at the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon to win the Eusébio Cup in a match decided in the opening minutes by Roger Schmidt’s attacking ‘avalanche’.

Benfica’s rout began to mount early: Prestianni (09) made it 1-0. Then Pavlidis scored twice in two minutes (13 and 14), and in the first half Beste (18) made it 4-0 from a free kick. In the second half, Artur Cabral (89) brought the final score to 5-0.

Benfica went on the attack and three minutes later Prestianni, manager Roger Schmidt’s surprise eleven man, gave the first sign of danger. It didn’t take long for the 25-man Eagles to reassert themselves in Luz and they did so in style, opening the scoring with a curling shot after taking advantage of a loose ball in the Dutch box.

With the game taking place in Benfica’s attacking midfield, such was the suffocating situation from the second-placed side, Prestianni came up with another move: he combined with João Mário and a delayed cross found the feet of Pavlidis to make it 2-0.

The ball into the centre of the pitch and seconds later the Greek Benfica striker repeated the celebration, this time with the help of Beste on the left, after Leandro Barreiro had won the ball back, which had unsettled the Feyenoord team.

Everything was going well and the Estádio da Luz was starting to feel euphoric until it was time for another addition to the list of goalscorers. In the 18th minute, Beste made it 4-0 from a free kick. The German took the free kick on the edge of the penalty area, but the big contribution was made by Moussa, the Feyenoord player, who eventually parried the ball and deceived the Dutch goalkeeper.

After hellish minutes for the Rotterdam team, the game calmed down and took on a sluggish tone, but was always under control of Benfica.

Schmidt made changes at the start of the second half, bringing on Neres, Antonio Silva, Marcos Leonardo and Carreras, but the game remained dormant.

With Benfica in charge and Schmidt replacing almost the entire team in the second half, the game dragged on until the end and Feyenoord took the opportunity to appear, playing more in attacking midfield, but to little practical effect.

Even at the end, at 89, the Dutch were given a new punishment: Arthur Cabral scored the final goal for 5-0. Even without celebrating, the Brazilian striker did not pass up the opportunity to score again in the pre-season and headed in the best possible response to a cross from Thiago Gouveia, making the final score 5-0.