Portugal
Liga 2
Saturday 4th March 2023
Kick Off 11.00 Actual 11.02
Sport Lisboa Benfica 0 Uniao Desportiva Vilafranquense 2, attendance 347
75’ 0-1
86’ 0-2
@ Benfica Campus Pitch 1
Rua Sport Lisboa e Benfica
2840-600 Seixal
€5 Admission
No Programme.
This morning’s trip was made by taking the metro system to Cais do Sodre, before catching the ferry south across the River Tagus to Seixal. The crossing time is 20 minutes and costs €2.45 and once there it was a ten minute walk up to the Benfica Campus, with the game being played on the main stadium pitch, which has an all seated capacity of 2,720. Tickets are purchased from the ticket booth at the entrance.
The match was 13th versus 5th in the league table and was pretty low key. The only real chance of the first half saw Benfica miss a one on one chance that the ‘keeper saved with his legs. The second half opened up a little and the longer it went on, the more likely the visitors looked like they might nick it. They finally made the breakthrough with fifteen minutes left, cutting in from the right, before curling a left footed shot into the far corner from 25 yards. They deservedly doubled their lead with four minutes left, finishing left footed off the inside of the far post from the angle of the 18 yard box, after a ricochet fell perfectly for the striker.
I intended to do another match this afternoon. Unfortunately the return ferry times on a Saturday are not great, as they are only two hourly and were at 13.00 or 15.00. There was no way of making the one o’clock one, without missing the end of the match (it didn’t bother the 5 German hoppers present, who had already left the match before the second goal was scored) and the 3 o’clock crossing would be too late. An Uber was pre-booked instead, picking up at the ticket office, where it cost €18 (including toll) taking us back across the river to Alcântara-Mar, from where we caught the train (€1.95) westward to Monte Estoril, arriving 70 minutes before kick off for what would be game two of the day.
