Benfica can win but its a tougher game than some realize, Germans are always tough. Interesting that Seferovic also came from Frankfurt. Porto has nothing to lose, if they come in playing like they usually do, they will lose, Liverpool counter presses with ease, which is how they lost 5-0.
We also lost 5-nil because we had Felipe, Danilo and Aboubakar out in the first game. Our squad isn't as deep as it used to be so we need our best 11 on the pitch to stand a chance.
Liverpool 2-0 Porto Another year, another sound defeat at Liverpool for Porto in the knockout rounds of the CL. Hey, they held Liverpool to three fewer goals this time. Progress! Seriously tho I was really hoping for a late away goal to change the calculus but now they have a real hill to climb. But it's at home and not impossible to overcome a 2-0 deficit. They will have to be very careful not to concede of course.
Benfica 4-2 Eintracht Frankfurt Cool game, impressive hat trick from Joao Felix. Jovic scored, of course, just to remind Benfica what a mistake they made not hanging on to him. And I felt a lot better before Frankfurt pulled one back. 4-1 seems a lot better than 4-2. Now Frankfurt would advance with a 2-0 or 3-1 win. Still, Benfica has by far more ways to win this tie: win or draw in Germany or lose by only one goal. Or lose by two goals in an even higher scoring game (3-5 would do it). Those all seem like reasonable options. Chelsea looks like the likely next opponent, they beat Slavia Praha in Czechia.
Benfica has everything to pass against Eintracht but the game at Commerbankz will be a huge test for their backline. Probably we will see more than 2 goals on the 2nd leg.
Those 2 away goals mean the tie is still open. And against 10 men as well... But its still a good opportunity to reach the semis.
I could see Benfica giving up 2 goals in Germany, but I would be surprised if they didn't get some away goals themselves. This one could end up like 3-2 to Frankfurt, which would just barely get Benfica through to the semis. If they can't hold a two goal leads, even with the two away goals, then they very much don't deserve to advance.
Porto 1-4 Liverpool Ugh. Porto out, embarrassed at home, cant even salvage a point for uefa standings purposes. Another ignominious exit vs Liverpool.
As I mentioned previously in another thread, the way Porto play is perfect against Liverpools style. But its the quarters of the CL so cant complain.
Porto drew lesser teams in the group stage (Schalke 04, Galatasaray, Lokomotiv Moscow) and in the 16th final (Roma), it conveyed the wrong impression about the team's ability to perform. The first serious opponent, they got wiped out. I'm not a Porto fan, but it's kinda sad to see how they've declined. They used to be great at scouting up and coming players, but lately the signings have been questionable. All Portuguese players have all been sidelined, and questionable foreigners brought in. I never understood the investment in mexicans players. I hope they don't win the league title, because they really don't deserve it.
Yeah overall a pretty crappy week for Portuguese soccer, both teams out of Europe after a pair of deeply underwhelming performances. But the optimistic take is that this was a good year for Portuguese soccer overall in terms of the UEFA rankings, especially compared to previous years and to the team closest to us in the rankings (Russia). Fifth overall in Europe, ahead of France. Well ahead of Russia by nearly 2.5 full points, making up a lot of the ground lost to them in recent years. And the highest annual point total since 2012/13 (which was also the last time we finished ahead of Russia). For next year, we will have five teams in Europe, though exactly which tournaments and which teams still remains to be seen. What could make a difference? The big 3 need to do about as well as they did this year, and then the other two teams need to make a credible showing. Just getting to the EL group stage and getting some points would be enough to stop them from adding only to the denominator and deflating the numerator.