Some 2,000 fans from the Algarve made the pilgrimage to the Stadium of Light in Lisbon on Saturday to watch league leaders Benfica take on Olhanense.
Victory for Benfica would virtually guarantee them their first league championship in four years, while the Algarveans needed points to secure their place in the top flight.
A near capacity crowd of 62,147 – the second highest of the season – were to witness an explosive opening eight minutes which were to settle the outcome of this important match.
On two minutes, Delson was judged to have handled the ball in the box, despite the fact that referee Lucilo Baptista was well behind play.
A yellow card for Delson before Cardozo, the league’s top scorer, stepped up to score his 22nd goal of the season. Minutes later and the visitors lost Delson when he was shown a second yellow card for a rash challenge.
Down to 10 men and with 82 minutes still to play, this was a mountain that the Algarve side had no hope of climbing.
Di Maria, being watched by Real Madrid, Manchester City and Chelsea, made it 2-0 after 18 minutes and the game was as good as over.
Ukra and Castro continued to work hard in midfield but when they did get possession there were few options open to them and the occasional threat was soon snuffed out by the home defence in which Fabio Coentrão and David Luiz were dominant.
Benfica, roared on by their passionate fans, were running riot but missed several great goal scoring opportunities. Bruno Verissimo made several point blank saves and Olhanense went in at half-time without further loss.
The second period was 10 minutes old when Cardozo notched his second and third goals in quick succession to end what little resistance there was from the visitors.
Benfica are a class act and their slick interplay was causing the gallant Olhanense players all sorts of problems. With ten minutes remaining Aimar got on the score sheet to complete a 5-0 victory. Minutes later, Benfica substitute Maxi Pereira was very lucky only to see yellow after a bad challenge on Lionn, who will now miss the rest of the season.
