match thread (image) [FT] Benfica 3 - 3 Rangers (Goncalves 24og; Kamara 25; Morelos 51)

[der Berliner 3,747]

Highlights from  the Benfica game. You could still tear out some hair at the chances we missed and the goals we conceeded ...

 

https://streamable.com/gk1kxv

[Tannochsidebear 2,420]

One thing I thought of at the time and it has been eating away at me since - I thought you were only allowed to make 3 changes, which can be for up to 5 subs. i.e. you have to put subs on in pairs as you can only stop the game 3 times. Benfica made 5 subs, with 4 interruptions to play. I thought at the time they were bringing on their last sub that they were not allowed to bring him on. Can anyone clarify one way or the other on this? I'm not going down the tims route of emailing UEFA demanding they award us the game, I ask just out of curiosity!

[rbr 1,256]

Good point Tannochsidebear , however Im pretty sure the half time subs dont count in the total number of changes , the same if the game goes into extra time and substitutions are made in the break .

[Tannochsidebear 2,420]

Fair enough, they did make 2 subs at half time.

[craig 5,199]

1 hour ago, rbr said:

Good point Tannochsidebear , however Im pretty sure the half time subs dont count in the total number of changes , the same if the game goes into extra time and substitutions are made in the break .

This is correct - half time is not determined to be an interruption in play for the purposes of making substitutions.

[der Berliner 3,747]

Noted in the highlights that Pizzi has scored 30odd goals last season for Benfica, yet their manager withdrew him from the line-up and replaced him with a defender after the sending off. I wonder how many Lisbon fans shaked their heads in disbelief? He will sure be a man to watch in the "replay".

[Gonzo79 15,294]

2 minutes ago, der Berliner said:

Noted in the highlights that Pizzi has scored 30odd goals last season for Benfica

Perhaps that was the slice of luck we needed.  

[Fat Eck 103]

Just watched the whole game again. Wasn't easy but had to do it. When they're live, I watch these games through a filter of sweat and dread so cannae really judge objectively. But with this one I had to know if I'd just imagined how good we were because of the stadium we were playing in and the club we were playing against.  

Nah - wasn't imagining it. We were achingly gorgeous.

A painful watch precisely because we were every bit as brilliant - or at least as in control against ten men in a seriously entertaining and thrilling way - as I imagined. We were beautiful. Then we took our eye off a dead ball (our midfield were so bloody amazing for the rest of the game that I'm just winded rather than angry) and didnae track Silva into the box...

Morelos was bordering on world class and he gave an absolutely torrid time of it to Jardel, who came on for Pizzi to plug the hole left by Otamendi at centre-half (so that, older viewers, is another Jardel who couldnae trap a bag of cement).

Given Otamendi is suspended for the next game, I'm crossing fingers, toes and eyes that Alfie's not Covided, or anything worse, between now and Benfica arriving at Ibrox.

Our two full backs were also phenomenal (AGAIN!), getting both their Benfica opposite numbers hooked at half-time and, to be fair, doing just as much damage to their replacements. So I don't think Jorge Jesus will know whether to stick or twist at the back. But he'd be as daft as his hair looks not to go with Waldschmidt and Nunez from the start this time, given the two of them combined for the the two second half goals we lost.

And if that Rafa Silva - lovely player, a rich man's Candeias - is allowed to play the whole 90 with Pizzi this time, they won't be shy in coming forward. So in the Ibrox return game there might be even more need for the Jack-Davis-Kamara line across the front of the defence.

But if they come onto us, like they actually should, I think we'll cope. I think we'll concede, yes, but I think we'll score more. Maybe way more.

If Benfica stick to the same high line they played last Thursday, Brandon Barker's in serious contention instead of Aribo but, personally, I'd like us to go with the same starting XI as in Lisbon, with the obvious possible exception of Balogun for Helander.

And you can be guaranteed Stevie G's reading this. Oh aye. He's waiting to see what I think before he picks his side... I know he is...

Edited November 11, 2020 by Fat Eck
Okay, it's actually Beale and Culshaw who read it but THEY PASS IT ON TO STEVIE! AYE THEY DAE! AH KNOW THEY DAE! HE KNOWS WHO I AM, RIGHT!!