Thanks to Braga's brilliant performance in the 3-0 derby victory, Benfica's lead over their nearest rivals is now just 3 points. It's true that Benfica has had somewhat worse results lately, but I'm sure that they will want to prove to the rest of the league that the loss was just a fluke. That mentioned defeat against Braga was the first defeat after 14 rounds in the league, which only speaks of the quality that Benfica possesses. They have a great team made up of players like Rafa Silva, Goncalo Ramos, Joao Mario and many other very high quality players. Today's game is very important for them, because in case of an unfavorable result, they would put themselves in a big problem. And it can really be said that they have reason to be optimistic before the duel with today's rival. During the season, Benfica recorded its best results precisely on the home field. Looking at the last 5 competitive games at home, Benfica have won all 5, including that great 4-3 win against Juventus. In each of those matches, Benfica scored at least two goals and I think that will be the case in this match as well.
Portimonense is a team from the middle of the table that plays according to its capabilities and the management can be satisfied with the position the team occupies. This is a team that plays very careful football without too much ambition in the offensive, 13 goals in 14 games perhaps speaks best. Lately, the team has recorded some rather bad results in games where it was certainly not expected. In the last 5 games, they have only one victory, and that was against the last-placed team of the second division of Portugal. They lost the other 4 games with only two goals scored. They lost to Nacional with 2-0, also a team from the second division, and on their home field they experienced a 3-0 defeat by Gil Vicente, a team that will lead a big fight for survival. Recently, Portimonense has been allowing a large number of goals to their opponents, without an adequate response in attack. If Benfica scores a goal in time in this match, I am not sure that we can expect a quick response from the guests. One slightly worse game must not be a measure of the quality of this Benfica team and I am quite sure that the players will want to prove it to everyone in today's match with a convincing victory.
