This Wednesday, Rio Ave welcomed Benfica for matchday 27 of Liga NOS. At Estadio dos Arcos, the Encarnados suffered to beat the home team but ended up with a 2-1 victory. Mehdi Taremi opened the scoring for the hosts, while Haris Seferovic and Julian Weigl made the comeback for the visitors.

Under pressure from previous bad results, Benfica started the first half with high intensity and looking for the goal. Their first good chance happened in the early minutes, and after that, they kept on having opportunities for breaking the deadlock. However, they missed them.

Rio Ave, on the other hand, didn’t waste their first chance and opened the scoring. At the 26th minute, Nuno Santos took a free-kick on the right and Taremi headed into the back of the net.

After that, the match became more equal, with both teams attacking and creating. The visitors seemed a little desperate because of the disadvantage and started using long shots. They even equalized still in the first half, with Dyego Sousa, but the goal was ruled out for an offside position.

In the second half, Benfica kept on being incisive and seeking the goal. Trying to change things a little, manager Bruno Lage made some subs, and they were effective. At the 64th minute, Seferovic received a cross from Nuno Tavares and put the ball into the back of the net.

After suffering the equalizer, things started to get bad for the hosts. Almost 10 minutes later, they lost their second player after Nuno Santos saw a red card, once Al Murasti saw a second yellow at the 62nd minute. With that, the match was basically attack versus defense.

Benfica found more opportunities and, at the 87th minute, they got their comeback with Weigl’s header, after Pizzi’s corner.

Before the end of the match, Rio Ave still had another player sent off, after Diego Figueiras also saw a red card. In the end, the visitors got the three points.

With the victory, Benfica reaches the same 64 points as Porto, even though they keep on the 2nd place. Rio Ave, on the other hand, remains with the 41 points and in 6th place.