The strange case of Benfica in the Champions League (23/24)
Last season (22/23) Benfica was one of the best teams in Europe playing football. After losing Darwin Nuñez to Liverpool in the Summer of 2022, the team was successfully rebuilt.
The new manager Roger Schmidt brought new ideas and the signings of Enzo Fernandez (transferred to Chelsea in January), Neres, Bah and Aursnes made it work well. The high pressing and high tempo football was a success, helping the team reach the UEFA Champions League (UCL) Quarter Finals and win the Portuguese League.
This season (23/24) is not yet halfway through and it has been disastrous to the Portuguese team in the Champions League.
After the exits of Grimaldo, Vlachodimos and Gonçalo Ramos in the Summer, Benfica signed players like Kokçu (player of the year in the Netherlands), di Maria (free), Arthur Cabral (Fiorentina). Different players, same tactic… What could go wrong?
Seeded in Group D in the Champions League with Inter, Real Sociedad and Redbull Salzburg, the Portuguese only have one point in five matches. In their last match in this competition, at home, they faced and draw 3-3 (3-0 at half time) a second tier Inter, which preferred to rest players for their duel against Napoli.
Benfica is already out of the next phase of the UCL and needs to win by two in Salzburg, the last match of the group stage, to qualify to UEFA Europa League. In the last two matches of the Portuguese League, they lost 4 points, as a result of two draws following the match against Inter, thus making 3 consecutive matches without winning. The fans started to lose patience.
If Benfica still uses the same 1-4-2-3-1 formation (and similar shapes) as last year and only 3 players changed in the typical starting 11, why hasn´t it been working?
So far, in the UCL macthes, Benfica has shown:
1. Less ability to press high and to react to the loss of possession. Gonçalo Ramos was very efficient pressing high, quick to react to the loss of the ball possession, stamina and very intelligent in the movements, cutting the opposition’s passing lines. None of the Benfica’s attacking players has the same characteristics. An ineffective pressing only opens spaces between lines and exposes defence.
2. Benfica’s attack has been narrow, more predictable and less efficient. Despite the individual quality of the players, the team plays with two inverted wingers who rarely try to win the line. By default, the game will come to central parts of the field or there will be a 1v2 with the full back. None of the central forwards is well connected to the team (Musa, Tengsted or Arthur Cabral) which results in inefficiency. Nearly half of the crosses came from di Maria, most of them swerving towards the goal. With a right footed Left Fullback (Aursnes) or a center back adapted to the position (Morato), likely there won’t be many crosses from the line on that side. Grimaldo gave a lot of depth to the left side of the attack. Neres gave speed to the right wing. Ramos gave unpredictability and speed, appearing in the opposition’s defence weaker spots.
3. The difficulties felt by the team in getting out of high-pressure, greatly condition the ability to launch quick attacks and to go forward. The incapacity to change sides quickly (where there aren’t opposition players) also made it harder to find free space to go in attack.
4. The Psychological Factor. This season has shown that something is not well with the team, where the best example was the match away against Real Sociedad. The team seemed to lack the mental strength it had last year (22/23). Lapses of concentration and communication (specially while defending) have caused errors and compromising situations (poor decision making, unmarked opposition players inside the own penalty area, missed passes in the defence). Also, lower levels of confidence and motivation were noticeable whenever the team took too long to recover positioning or was too impatient while attacking.
Benfica’s team has quality and only depends on itself to qualify for Europa League. The mindset will be the key factor for the next matches. Follows Red Bull Salzburg (Away).
