Benfica and Panathinaikos Play to a Scoreless Draw in Toronto

In what was supposed to be a friendly between two European League champions, the match featuring SL Benfica and Panathinaikos FC nearly turned ugly as both teams tied 0-0 at BMO Field in Toronto.

Both teams played an aggressive and rough first half that nearly resulted in a full-out brawl just before halftime. Both benches cleared after an altercation in the Benfica end and several punches were thrown. Players from both sides rushed in to either join the melee or help break it up.

Fortunately cooler heads prevailed as both teams discussed the situation with one another at halftime.

“We speak all together here at halftime,” said Benfica forward Nuno Gomes. “In second half you saw that there were no problems. Things like that can happen in football sometimes, nothing special. We talked and settled things down and everything was ok.”

Panathinaikos’ midfielder Sebastian Leto, who was by far the best player on the pitch for either team, offered up his thoughts on what happened in the first half.

 

“There were some incidents in the game but it was good at the end,” said Leto through a Spanish interpreter. “It was just because both teams wanted to win the game, so it was two incidents that happened just like that but in the end it was ok.”

Gomes also thought the officiating could have been better in the first half.

“I think some of the referee’s decisions weren’t fair for both teams. It was a little bit confusing at the end of the first half.”

The match saw very few scoring chances for either team, but overall Panathinaikos played the better game. This was mostly in part to the performance of Leto in the midfield. He was simply all over the pitch and the strength of the Panathinaikos attack.

Leto distributed the ball well and created numerous chances for his teammates leading Benfica to play him aggressively resulting in many hard fouls on the Argentinean.

 

But hard fouls, pushing, punching and verbal jabs were the story of the first half as both teams were penalized with yellow cards. But Benfica came out worse for wear as defender David Luiz was given his second yellow card and then shown the red as he was sent off in stoppage time.

With Benfica down to ten men, three substitutions were made to start the second half for tactical reasons, which included Gomes coming into the game.

Panathinaikos had the best chance of the match in the 66^th minute when Leto’s free kick into the crease area was headed off the crossbar by Ante Rukavina. The subsequent rebound was then volleyed over the net by Cedric Kante.

Aside from the one great scoring opportunity, the second half was uneventful and the game ended in a scoreless draw. Benfica did well with 10 men but were unable to put on a show for their many supporters. 

 

“It wasn’t a great game,” added Gomes. “I think in the 2^nd half with our team one man out we tried to do our best, I think the result was fair at the end of the game. The most important thing for us is to be with the Portuguese fans that live here, so I think they are happy to see us here.”

 

Notes:Benfica and Panathinaikos did not bring all their first team all stars for the friendly match as they were on international duty in preparation for the World Cup. Notably absent for Benfica was top Portuguese league scorer Oscar Cardozo who is with the Paraguay’s national team. Defender Luisao and midfielder Ramires were also out of the lineup as they will play for Brazil. Panathinaikos were missing several regulars including their captain Giorgos Karagounis and striker Djibril Cisse who will represent Greece and France, respectively, in South Africa.

Click HERE to view more pics from the Benfica and Panathinaikos match.

Contact Aman Dhanoa at aman@oyetimes.com

Photos courtesy of JP Dhanoa