Boca Juniors are not in good form at the moment. The team from the land of Tango has not won 4 consecutive matches recently, losing 2 and drawing 2 matches. Boca's most recent defeat was a 0-1 home loss to Independiente last May. Since then, the Argentine team has not played any more matches, which could lead to the players being overwhelmed when entering the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup super tournament. However, the sudden change in the playing style of teams from South America is very unpredictable. In particular, South American stars are like artists who often shine on big stages. Therefore, they are not afraid of opponents of equal level like Benfica.
On the other hand, Benfica are in very good form. They are unbeaten in their last 13 consecutive matches, specifically drawing 4 and winning 9. This team is also constantly training to compete in the European arena. Their squad has many quality players. In particular, coach Bruno Lage has 2 famous Argentine stars, including center-back Nicolas Otamendi and winger Angel di Maria, who understand their hometown team very well. The understanding of the playing style of this duo for Boca Juniors promises to bring certain advantages in the opening match of the team from Portugal.
With the situation in Group C, when Auckland City was too weak, they were crushed by Bayern Munich with a score of 10-0 in the opening match of the group, with almost no chance of competing for a ticket to the next round. Therefore, Benfica and Boca Juniors understood that the direct confrontation between them was considered the final match for a ticket to the round of 16. The winning team was almost certain to enter the next round, while the losing team was likely to have to regretfully stop right in the group stage. Understanding this very well, Boca and Benfica entered the match with all their determination to avoid difficulties when facing the "Gray Tigers". However, with the draw, both teams had to make efforts in the remaining 2 matches against the "Gray Tigers" Bayer and the "Little Lambs" Auckland.
Returning to the match, the two teams started quite openly, so the match was quite exciting. Benfica was the team with more dangerous attacks, they were even very close to scoring, however, Boca was the team that broke the deadlock. In the 22nd minute, a seemingly harmless move, Boca's number 22 "threaded the needle" through Benfica's defender to escape into the penalty area. A gentle pass and a delicate touch from Miguel Merentiel tore the net of goalkeeper ChuBin. Just 5 minutes later, Benfica's net shook again after Rodrigo Battaglia's header, originating from a corner kick in the 27th minute. Benfica found a goal to shorten the score to 1-2 in the 45+3 minute, after Di Maria successfully executed a penalty kick. 2-1 in favor of Boca was the score of the first half.
In the second half, Benfica poured forward to attack in search of an equalizer. The game was one-sided for the first 20 minutes of the second half. After that, the match almost fell apart when Boca players kept "lying on the ground" despite very light contact. It was not until the 84th minute that Benfica had an equalizer when Nicolas Otamendi headed the ball into the bottom right corner of the goal from a cross-wing pass after a corner kick by Orkun. The final score of the match was 2-2.
After drawing in the “final”, Boca Juniors and Benfica will have to wait for the results of the remaining two matches when they face Bayer Munich and Auckland City. With their strength, both are ready to “destroy” Auckland City, but may be swallowed up when facing the “Gray Tiger” Bayer. The team with the better result against the two opponents above will receive a ticket to the knockout round.
Source: https://baobinhthuan.com.vn/ngang-tai-ngang-suc-131082.html
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