Starting Line Ups:
Benfica:
12 - Roberto
14 - Maxi Pereira
4 - Luisão
23 - David Luiz
18 - Fábio Coentrão
6 - Javi García
5 - Ruben Amorim
25 - César Peixoto
17 - Carlos Martins
30 - Javier Saviola
7 - Óscar Cardozo
Jorge Jesus employed a 4-4-2 diamond formation, with Amorim and Peixoto positioned somewhere between central midfield and winger roles. Maxi Pereira and Coentrão provided further width to the team with energetic runs down the flanks. Javi García was the deepest of midfielders, but he stayed relatively close to Amorim and Peixoto. Carlos Martins played as a enganche in the first half.
Schalke:
1 - Manuel Neuer
22 - Atsuto Uchida
4 - Benedikt Höwedes
21 - Cristoph Metzelder
13 - Lukas Schmitz
14 - Kyriakos Papadopoulos
12 - Peer Kluge
18 - José Manuel Jurado
10 - Ivan Rakitić
7 - Raúl
25 - Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
It was extremely difficult to define the shape of Schalke's midfield. Throughout the whole game, Papadopoulos protected the back four and was efficient in dispossessing Benfica and passing the ball onto someone else; he is a natural centre-back. The rest of the midfield, however, swapped places for much of the game, with Kluge mostly stationed on the right and Rakitić on the left. Whenever Schalke were out of possession, Kluge and Rakitić would tuck inside, forming a three-man centre midfield. Conversely, when Schalke had the ball, they would move out towards the wings, opening the play up. Raúl often tracked back to make the most out of his passing and technical abilities.
Opening Minutes: Contrasting Styles
Generally in football, the first twenty minutes establish what the game will be like in the remainder of the game. Up until the Schalke goal, however, Benfica were dominating and were making use of their short passing game. The match created an interesting juxtaposition between the short, slow passing of the Latin game and the fast, direct passing which is common in northern Europe. Benfica controlled the possession while Schalke were penned back into their own half. Furthermore, when Benfica had the ball, their players would take longer to decide where to pass it to, but when the Germans received the ball, their first aim would be to play a long ball towards Huntelaar and Raúl up front. Schalke also wanted to stretch the game more as when they had possession of the ball Rakitić and Kluge would go to wide positions. Whilst it meant that their direct game would be more effective, the fact they played centrally while out of possession meant that Benfica wouldn't have a two man advantage in the centre of midfield and couldn't out-pass Schalke, which they were hoping to do.
Soon Schalke began to take the game to Benfica and sure enough scored in the 19th minute when Raúl spread the ball out to the left flank where Schmitz was stationed, who immediately laid it back for Rakitić to swing a cross in to an unmarked Raúl, who chested the ball back for fellow countryman Jurado to put the ball past Roberto with the outside of his foot. Schalke made the most of some dire marking by Benfica who didn't seem to posses the spirit to come back into the game in front of nearly-empty stands.
Half Time Changes: Benfica more Attacking
At half time Jorge Jesus made a couple of substitutions at half time to try and introduce some pace and width into the team. Maxi Pereira went off for Nicolás Gaitán and Pablo Aimar came on for César Peixoto.Ruben Amorim went to right back and Gaitán was stationed on the left flank. Carlos Martins was left on the right wing, most probably because maybe there was a slight chance of discouraging him from shooting from distance, which he had done for much of the match. It failed, and he was later substituted for Eduardo Salvio, a more natural right-winger and a player less incline to shoot.
Despite the more attacking outlook in Benfica's side, they still couldn't penetrate the organised defence of Schalke. Neither Saviola or Cardozo are particularly quick to take advantage over the lumbering giant that is Metzelder and if there was an unmarked man in Benfica's attack, he would be picked up by Papadopoulos. Pablo Aimar also played a lot of through-balls for Saviola to run on to, but Saviola was often caught offside and Aimar's vision was used in vain as Benfica struggled to create any meaningful chances.
Schalke again capitalised on some dreadful marking by Benfica to score their second goal. After a Schalke corner went towards the edge of the penalty area, most of Benfica's players edged out away from the goal towards it. The ball was headed, however, back by Kluge towards the penalty area, were a mass evacuation had occurred earlier and where Höwedes was left onside and unmarked to head in his second goal in two games.
Benfica scored a consolation goal from a Luisão header in the 87th minute as Schalke held on for the win. In the end, German efficiency triumphed over Portuguese flair, and the true extent of Schalke's efficiency are reflected in the match statistics.
Schalke finished as winners of Group B, while Benfica qualified for the Europa League after Hapoel Tel-Aviv conceded an equaliser against Lyon.
Scoring List:
19' Jurado
81' Höwedes
87' Luisão
Statistics:
Benfica Schalke
61% Possession 39%
15 Shots 7
4 Shots on Target 6
8 Corners 2
5 Offsides 4
14 Fouls 19
http://euro-goals.blogspot.com -> This is a good blog showing highlights of Europa and Champions League games
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