Benfica win first pre-season match against Southampton

This Wednesday afternoon, Benfica beat Southampton from the English second tier 2-0 in the first leg of the preparation for the new season, played in St. Louis. George Park in England.

Against Southampton, who were relegated from the Premier League last season, the national champions scored two first-half winners, the first from Brazil’s David Neres (11 minutes) and the second from Serbia’s Ristic (45).

Coach Roger Schmidt bet on two different teams in each half, with the exception of goalkeeper Samuel Soares, who remained in goal for the full 90 minutes.

In addition to the goalkeeper, Benfica started the game with Joao Victor, right winger, Lucas Verissimo, Morato, Ristic, Chiquinho, Kökçu reinforcements, Neres, Orsnes, Rafa and Mousa.

In addition, the great harmony between the players who played in the first half is infamous, especially thanks to combinations between Chiquinho, Orsnes, Neres and Rafa.

On the return trip after the break, Benfica introduced Samuel Soares, Bach, António Silva, Tomas Araujo, Rafael Rodríguez, Florentino, João Neves, João Mario, Sjelderup, Thiago Gouveia and Tengstedt.

Both Tengstedt and Schjelderup had good situations to increase the score in the second half, especially the Norwegian, who in the 81st minute was a direct beneficiary of Joao Mario’s altruism, just in the “face” of Bazunu he did the hardest and allowed the guardian ” saints” to defend themselves.

Midfielder Florentino spoke to reporters after the match, saying that the game against the English side was “very positive” and served the players as “putting into practice some of the ideas” that Roger Schmidt had given them at the start of the season. .

“You can see that all the players are concentrated and focused on what we want. The coach asked us to be at our best level, to go step by step both technically and physically, to reach the best shape and be ready for the first match. official game,” he said.

On the other hand, Florentino acknowledged that Turkish midfielder Kekçu “is a very high quality player and that he will add a lot to the team”, stressing also that “it’s always good to have competition and have competitiveness in the squad”.

Apart from Kokçu and Jurasek, who have yet to be used in this first game, Benfica have a third reinforcement, in this case the Argentine Ángel Di Maria, who represented the Eagles between 2007 and 2010 and whom Florentino remembers well.

“I remember him when I was younger. I took the ball and watched him play. He’s a great player and it’s great to have him on the team. He came to add,” he concluded.

Benfica continue their training camp at St. George’s Park, the “home” of English teams, until Saturday, heading to Switzerland that day, where they will face Basel on Sunday at St. Petersburg Stadium. Jakob Park, from 15:00 (Lisbon time).

This is followed by participation in the Algarve Trophy with games against the Saudis of Al Nasr, Luis Castro and Cristiano Ronaldo and the Spaniards of Celta de Vigo on 20 and 21 July respectively before a new preparatory game. Netherlands against Dutch champions Feyenoord on 30 July.

The first official meeting of the “embodied” will be the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira against rivals FC Porto, winners of the Portuguese Cup, in a match scheduled for 8 or 9 August.