Benfica internacional news #2

Notícias da imprensa internacional sobre o Sport Lisboa e Benfica

1 de Abril de 2010

http://www.sportingpreview.com/matches/09104771.php?

BENFICA v LIVERPOOL
BIG MATCH FACTSSportingPreview.com, 1 Apr 2010

Liverpool travel to the Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica this evening to take on Portuguese giants Benfica with a place in the Europa League semi-finals up for grabs.

The winners of the tie will go on to play the winners of the Valencia and Atletico Madrid clash in the last four of the tournament.

Benfica completed a Europa League double over Liverpool's Merseyside neighbours Everton this season - beating the Toffees 5-0 at home before picking up a 2-0 win at Goodison Park.

The Eagles are top of the Portuguese Liga and are six points clear of second-placed Sporting Braga with six games left to play.


MATCH FACTS

Head To Head

There have been eight previous meetings between these two clubs with Benfica winning three matches compared to Liverpool's five victories.

Benfica have won their last three meetings with Liverpool.

Liverpool's last victory away to Benfica was a 4-1 win on 21 March 1984 when they met in the European Champions Cup.

Benfica

Benfica have yet to win the Europa League (formerly UEFA Cup).

The Portuguese club have been beaten finalists in the competition. They were defeated 2-1 over two legs by Anderlecht in the 1983 final.

The Eagles are unbeaten in their last 23 league and cup matches (Won 18, Drawn 5).

Liverpool

Liverpool have won the Europa League (formerly UEFA Cup) three times - 1973, 1976, 2001.

The Reds have lost three of their last six league and cup matches.

Rafa Benitez's men have managed just one victory from their last six away games in all competitions.

LEADING GOALSCORERS

Benfica

Cardozo: 19 goals

Liverpool

Torres: 20 goals

MOST RECENT CLASH

Liverpool 0-2 Benfica (8 March 2006) 


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http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rorysmith/100006771/benficas-flying-angel-will-test-englands-weakest-link/?

Benfica's flying Angel will test England's weakest link

Benfica's outstanding winger Angel Di Maria is one of Europe's hottest talents (Photo: Getty)

In the luxuriant surrounds of the Ritz, Liverpool’s team hotel in Lisbon, late last night, a relaxed Rafael Benitez and a deadpan Lucas Leiva spent half an hour or so politely straight-batting questions from the Portuguese press and, doubtless, vaguely wondering what the Arsenal score was.

Both were respectful, both effusive in their praise of Jorge Jesus’s Benfica side, their opponents here tonight. Even when the translator made a small, entirely forgivable slip to Lucas, the bilingual Portuguese was quick enough to make sure his answer was nothing less than entirely professional.

Asked by a local journalist whether he agreed with Jesus’s estimation that the Estadio da Luz will, tonight, host a tie between the two best teams left in the Europa League, Lucas waited patiently as the translator, momentarily befuddled by UEFA’s ridiculous brand change, asked him in English if he thought Benfica and Liverpool were the best two sides in Europe.

Thankfully – as Liverpool have not been the best team on Merseyside for much of this season – he answered the original question.Perhaps, though, the translator’s slip was Freudian. Benfica, unlike their opponents, could be contenders for such a crown.

This blog, originally, was going to be a deliberately provocative dialectic on why Benfica are just as good as Barcelona. That, clearly, would have been pushing it. But, on a personal note, they were responsible for the single best display I have witnessed in the flesh this season, better even than Arsenal’s opening-day rampage at Goodison Park, when Pablo Aimar, Javier Saviola, Ramires, Oscar Cardozo and co dismantled David Moyes’s side here in the autumn.

True, I have not had the good fortune to see Barcelona, Real Madrid or Inter Milan live, but it is no exaggeration to say that Benfica are a side of the utmost quality, despite the perception that Portuguese football is a backwater.

Cardozo is a towering, ruthless bludgeon of a striker. Saviola is intricate, cunning, his movement constant, his foot-to-the floor acceleration electric. Ramires bustles, Aimar enchants, the angles of his passes improbable, their work supported by the diligent Javi Garcia.

None, though, compare to Angel di Maria, the Argentine left-winger who spent much of that balmy evening against Everton as a blur of red shooting past the disorientated, distraught debutant Seamus Coleman. Di Maria, according to Diego Maradona, is on the verge of establishing himself as “a worldwide superstar”.

This time next year, he may well have done so. Di Maria will play the foil to Lionel Messi for Argentina in South Africa and, if the evidence from Maradona’s side’s friendly with Germany last month is anything to go by, will thoroughly enjoy himself. Messi may find his fire doused by double, triple marking. The spark, the flame will come from the left, from the unassuming boy from Rosario.

That is why, if he can tear himself away from fretting over Wayne Rooney’s cut thumb, Fabio Capello would do well to pay close attention to what happens on one side of the Estadio da Luz pitch tonight. Glen Johnson will have to be at his very best to combat Di Maria, a winger better equipped than most in the world to exploit the Liverpool and England man’s apparent defensive shortcomings. By about 11pm tonight, local time, England and Argentina, and the rest of the world, will know just how weak Capello’s weakest link is.

*It is just coincidence that Everton feature as victims in both of these games.

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http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/news?slug=goal-benficastarangeldimariaquel&prov=goal&type=lgns

Benfica Star Angel Di Maria Quells Talk Of Premier League Switch

• Benfica forward Angel Di Maria has refuted suggestions that he is on the verge of a big money move to thePremier League.

Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea have all been strongly linked with the Argentine over recent months, but he inists that he is currently focused only on matters at Benfica, who take on Liverpool in the Europa League quarter-final first leg on Thursday evening.

Di Maria remains highly-sought after but maintains that talk of a move is nothing more than speculation at the moment.

"I am not interested in the rumours - in England they look through everything with a magnifying glass but I don't have to worry about it," the winger told reporters.

"At the moment I am only interested in Benfica and I think we can win anywhere in Europe."

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http://www.blog-football.net/10071/benfica-liverpool-ligue-europa-2010/

Benfica – Liverpool : Ligue Europa 2010

by FOOTBALL on 1 AVRIL 2010

Liverpool est actuellement mal menée en championnat et n’a plus que l’Europa Ligue pour sauver sa saison. Les Portugais sont dans une bien meilleure situation, car ils ont déjà remporté la coupe de la Ligue et devraient remporter également le championnat du Portugal.

Pour ce match au sommet de la Ligue Europe, Benfica et Liverpool se retrouvent afin d’accéder aux demi-finales de la compétition.

L’entraîneur de Benfica, Jorge Jesus, devrait aligner Pablo Aimar à côté de Cardozo, car Saviola est indisponible pour affronter les Reds.

Équipe du Benfica Lisbonne

Gardien : Júlio César
Défenseurs : Maxi Pereira, Luisão, David Luiz et Fábio Coentrão
Milieux de terrain : Javi Garcia, Ramires, Carlos Martins et Angel Di Maria
Attaquants : Pablo Aimar et Cardozo

De son côté, Rafael Benirez, devrait aligner son équipe type pour ces quarts de finale face au SLB.

Equipe des Reds de Liverpool

Gardien : Reina
Défenseurs : Johnson, Agger, Carragher et Ínsua
Milieux de terrain : Lucas, Mascherano, Kuyt, Gerrard et Benayoun
Attaquants : Fernando Torres

Posted in: Notícias,notícias internacionais