Benfica ended the 2023/24 season 'to forget' with a night... 'to forget', on Friday evening, after leaving the Estádio dos Arcos, in Vila do Conde, with a one-all draw against Rio Ave, in a match that had a 'heart-stopping' ending.

Without Rafa Silva and Ángel di María, due to technical choice, Roger Schmidt handed the team's helm to Orkun Kokçu, who crowned a good performance with a goal. However, when the triumph seemed well on its way, Costinha converted a penalty committed by Florentino Luís and sealed the final result.

In Cezary's land, Kokçu ruled...

Faced with a pressing and bold Rio Ave, living up to the philosophy implemented by coach Luís Freire, Benfica handed the 'baton' of the game to Orkun Kokçu, who led, if not all, most of the team's most brilliant moments, in the first half.

In the sixth minute, the Turkish international launched Casper Tengstedt, who, isolated in front of goal, shot at Cezary Miszta. 11 minutes later, the same protagonists were present again, with the same flaw, and the goalkeeper from Vila do Conde once again denied the goal.

A moment of great emotion followed, in the 17th minute, when the game was interrupted for the 'farewell' to Ukra, at the age of 36. However, the reds were not in a party mood, and, in the 32nd minute, they took the lead, this time with Tengstedt assisting Kokçu for the goal that broke the deadlock.

In the 40th minute, the eagles were on the verge of extending their lead, but Miszta once again said 'present', to hold the home team back, with a great stretch. On the verge of the half-time whistle, Emmanuel Boateng fell in the penalty area, after a divided play with Morato, but the referee, David Silva, ordered play to continue.

Florentino Luís 'spoiled the painting'

In the second half, the initiative of the game continued to belong, mostly, to Benfica, who translated the dominance into successive goal opportunities, namely, by Orkun Kokçu, Benjamín Rollheiser and, above all, Casper Tengsted, who invariably came up against Cezary Miszta.

The Vila-Condensers, on the other hand, still managed to grow slightly, especially thanks to the entries of Adrien Silva and Fábio Ronaldo, for João Graça and Mateo Tanlongo, and celebrated, when, in the 87th minute, Emmanuel Boateng scored, but the move was, however, disallowed, for offside.

Even so, the home team refused to 'throw in the towel', and reached the draw, after the 90 minutes, thanks to a penalty converted by Costinha, after Florentino Luís childishly put his hand on the ball, following a header by Aderllan Santos.

[Report in progress]

Line-ups

Rio Ave: Cezary Miszta; Costinha, Renato Pantalon, Aderllan Santos, Patrick William, Marious Vrousai; Mateo Tanlongo, João Graça, Amine Oudrhiri; Ukra and Emmanuel Boateng.

Benfica: Samuel Soares; Fredrik Aursnes, Nicolás Otamendi, Morato, Álvaro Carreras; Florentino Luís, João Neves, Orkun Kokçu; Benjamín Rollheiser, João Mário and Casper Tengstedt. 

Preview

Rio Ave and Benfica say goodbye, on Friday evening, to the 2023/24 season of the I Liga, in a match in which little or nothing will be at stake, since both know that, whatever happens at the Estádio dos Arcos, the position of both will not suffer any major changes.

The reds are second place, with 79 points won after 33 rounds played, eight less than the leader (and new national champion), Sporting, and ten more than the third place, FC Porto.

The Vila-Condensers, on the other hand, live in tenth place, with the same 36 points as Gil Vicente. However, they are no longer in danger of relegation and no longer have any margin to fight for qualification for European competitions.

The Rio Ave-Benfica match will be refereed by David Silva, a judge from the Porto Football Association, and you can follow it, from 8:45 pm (Continental Portugal time), on Desporto ao Minuto.

Read Also: Rio Ave-Benfica: A blank season ends, in the color of the scarves (Portuguese version)