Santa Clara vs Benfica 1-2

Benfica came from a goal down to beat Santa Clara 2-1 at Estádio de São Miguel after two second-half goals turned the match around. Santa Clara led at the break, but Benfica recovered and took the points through Vangelis Pavlidis and Gianluca Prestianni.

Luis Fernando Santos Oliveira put Santa Clara ahead from the penalty spot in the 32nd minute, making it 1-0, and that stayed the score at half-time. Benfica had already picked up two yellow cards by then, with Alexander Bah booked in the 8th minute and Marco Alexandre Saraiva da Silva in the 10th.

Benfica changed two players at the break and levelled six minutes after the restart when Pavlidis scored in the 62nd minute from Gianluca Prestianni’s assist, making it 1-1. Prestianni then struck himself in the 68th minute to put Benfica in front at 2-1. Benfica made another double change on 82 minutes, including Pavlidis going off for Jhon Durán, while Santa Clara also made two switches on 85 minutes as they chased an equaliser. The home side could not find one, and Benfica saw the game out despite late bookings for Samuel Dahl and Durán.

Santa Clara had 39% of possession and 300 passes to Benfica’s 61% and 481, but the visitors still had the greater shot count, 15 to 13, and more expected goals, 1.72 to 1.36. Santa Clara finished with six shots on target to Benfica’s three, while Benfica had three corners to two and five saves to Santa Clara’s one.

Santa Clara were booked four times, with Emanuel Moreira in the 36th minute, Pedro Pacheco in the 40th, Guilherme Romão in the 90th minute and Joao Vasconcelos in the 90+3rd minute. Benfica had five yellow cards: Bah, Marco Alexandre Saraiva da Silva, Pavlidis in the 59th minute, Fredrik Aursnes in the 74th and Samuel Dahl in the 88th, before Durán was booked in the 89th minute.