For FCSB and Romanian football a dream, for Qarabag reality. This evening, the Azerbaijan champion started in what is only his second participation in the main phase of the Champions League and won the first victory at this level, 3-2 with Benfica, which has over the paper! A team of GSP reporters attended the Estádio Da Luz match and presents some color details.
In January, Qarabag was lost on his own ground with FCSB in the Europa League group. Eight months later, the Azeri do what the Romanian champion – whatever her name – can not be 12 seasons: play in the most important interclub competition, Champions League!
But how does the strong air of the Champions League feel for a team that has long taken the pulse of the competition? And especially, what happens and sees further from TV broadcast?
A GSP team was present tonight on Estádio da Luz and presents some color details.
1. SUPPORTED PROTEST AGAINST UEFA – the anthem of the league, whistled!
Lusitan fans whistled the Champions League anthem, As a result of the drastic sanctions that the Nyon forum has disposed of the club in the spring of this year.
Benfica received the prohibition to sell tickets for a traveling match, due to the incidents caused by supporters in the Barcelona match, played on March 11, in the optimal phase. Then, the ultras used pyrotechnic materials that affected the match.
For the same behavior, in the past, UEFA has partially closed some sectors on “Da Luz” for two years.
Although there were discussions between the officials of the “vultures” and the hard core of the gallery to stop the manifesto, the fans did not give up, being unhappy and the way Fair Play works, a regulation that they consider favorable to clubs with significant budgets.
2. Supporters, at the end of patience. They whistled and asked for resignations!
The match was played in a tangible tension. With the position of coach Bruno Lage in danger, in the context of the unconvincing benefits this season, the supporters seemed to be prepared to “erupt” at any time.
The unexpected start of good, 2-0 after only 16 minutes, postponed the explosion of the stands, but After the 2-1 goal, scored by Leandro Andrade in the 30th minute, the first whistles from the spectators were heard.
To the following dangerous actions of the guests, later to the successes of 2-2 and 2-3, The few whistles turned into a deafening choir!
At the end was even worse, with the stands bursting when the players were heading for the tunnel. After a few seconds, the whistles turned into ironic applause! What a black evening for Benfica, what a wonderful terminal in the history of the Azerbaijani club!
3. “Yes Luz”, a jewelry
Even if The “neighbors” from Sporting invested 50 million By the euro this summer in the modernization of its own stadium, the Benficăi Arena remains the city's jewel. Acoustic, facilities, organization on “da luz” are superlative.
The “Vultures” House enjoys a technology in which huge clubs of the continent only dream: 3 electronic bands installed around the stands, at 360 degrees, and delimit the 4 rings.
The first serves as a space for sponsors, the other two displays the score in real time, all the important moments (changes, markers) and, permanently, the club slogan, “E pluribus uum” – “from many, one”.
4. Electoral occasion
On October 25, the members of the (Soos) club will choose the new president of Benficăi, the one to run the company in the next 4 years. The electoral race has already begun, and any day of the match is an electoral chance for suitors at that position.
Precisely for this reason, Since noon, there were around the stadium the faces of some of the candidates, seated on cars parked near or printed on posters.
Trying to speculate the dissatisfaction with the coach, one of the aspirants to the chairman's chair, Cristóvão Carvalho, requested the last days the dismissal of Bruno Lage: “We cannot wait for the coach to destroy a major investment and these great players! Bruno Lage is not a trainer with stature as Mare Benficăi ”.
Asked what coach he would install, he would “throw” at a huge name: Jurgen Klopp!
I need a world -class coach, one who has already won the Champions League and wants to win the competition with Benfica. There is only one name in my mind: Jurgen Klopp.
– Cristóvão Carvalho
5. Extravagant Richard Rios, a new match below expectations
The Colombian in trending on Tiktok had an evolution below expectations and in the first round of the most important interclub competition in Europe.
Transferred from Palmeiras to the recently concluded mercato for the amount of 27 million euros, Richard Ríos (25 years old) is late to count for Benfica.
Instead, it is in great vogue online, since it has evolved in Brazil. He became known for his creative and authentic style at the same time. His followers have recently copied his clothing and hairdresser creating a true “hype” among teenagers.
