Benfica return to winning ways against Vitória de Guimarães

Benfica returned to winning ways with a 2-0 victory over Vitória de Guimarães on Sunday in the eighth round of the Primeira Liga. The result came after a 3-1 defeat to Porto in the classic before the international break.

Stung by that loss, the Lisbon side pressed hard in the first half. Samuel Dahl opened the scoring in the 24th minute after a move involving Vangelis Pavlidis. Benfica’s control eased after the interval, allowing Vitória to push forward, but the visitors did not pose a genuine threat to the Eagles’ goal.

Benfica did not make the result secure until the 75th minute, when Georgiy Sudakov scored the second. The move began down the left with Gianluca Prestianni, who passed to Claudio Echeverri; Echeverri then set up the Ukrainian midfielder. The goal was Sudakov’s first of the season.

The win puts Benfica back in second place on 19 points. They are five points behind leaders and champions Porto, and one ahead of third-placed Sporting.