Supersubs Rescue Benfica After Some Bramblesque Defending

Bramblesque isn’t a word, but it should be.

Benfica went into the second leg of their UEFA Cup last 32 games away to Nürnberg with a 1-0 lead, but squandered it with some extremely dodgy second-half defending. Angelos Charisteas sidefooted a Nürnberg equaliser after being given enough space to build a modest sized house on, and then Ivan Saenko gave his German team the lead following a series of defensive disasters that suggested Titus Bramble himself had been coaching Benfica’s back four.

But then José Antonio Camacho looked at his Benfica bench and saw some American salvation.

Not Freddy Adu this time (he stayed sitting down) but the South American pair of Paraguayan striker Óscar Cardozo and Argentinian wonderkid winger Ángel Di María.

Cardozo came on with 20 minutes to go, and scored the equalizer in the 89th minute by striking a left footer oon the bounce from just outside the area. That made it 2-2 and was enough to send Benfica through on away goals, but fellow sub Di María (who had come on in the 81st) made sure when he caught Nürnberg on the break, danced around the keeper and rolled it home for 2-2 on the night and 3-2 on aggregate.

For an excellent round up of last night’s UEFA Cup action, feast your eyes on UEFA Cup Offside Ian’s LiveBlog of all sixteen games as they happened.

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Category: UEFA Cup