Sunday, May 23, 2021 at 11:45 PM• Mart van Mourik

On Sunday evening, SC Braga seized the Taça de Portugal at the expense of Benfica. After more than fifteen minutes of play, the team of trainer Jorge Jesus ended up with ten men, which meant that Braga no longer ran into problems and booked a 2-0 win. Former Vitessenaar Lucas Piazon played a leading role, as he scored the 1-0 from a great distance and received a red card in the final minute after a collision with Adel Taarabt. It was the third time in club history that the cup was taken after the final victories in 1965/66 and 2015/16.

Benfica got off the starting blocks with offensive plans. Alex Grimaldo and Pizzi, among others, fired on the enemy target, but both attempts did not yield the desired result. In the seventeenth minute of play, the game took an abominable turn for Benfica. Abel Ruiz was only sent to goalkeeper Helton Leite after a long ball from back. The latter came far and wild from his goal and brought down Braga’s striker with a sliding. It was reason enough for referee Nuno Almeida to draw a direct red card.

Nevertheless, Benfica seemed to hold onto the 0-0 score until the half-time signal, but Braga struck just before half-time. Substitute goalkeeper Odisseas Vlachodimos went far from his goal to defuse a deep pass from Tormena, but the final post hit the ball wrong and put Piazon right in the feet. The attacking midfielder saw that Vlachodimos was unable to return to his goal in time and shot the 1-0 against the ropes from about thirty meters. The impotent Benfica was unable to create any danger in the second act.

Finally, the curtain finally fell five minutes before the end. It was Ricardo Horta who scored the 2-0 on a pass from Ricardo Esgaio with a devastating shot. The game ended in a remarkable way. In the fourth minute of injury time, Piazon got a direct red card after he physically attacked Adel Taarabt, who was also sent off for his foul.