UWCL Preview | The Inside on Rangers’ Playoff Opponents Benfica
On Tuesday night Rangers welcome Benfica to Ibrox for the first leg of their Champions League play-off. A win over two-legs would see Malky Thomson’s side enter the sixteen team group stage in what is their maiden appearance in the flagship club competition for European women’s football but the Portuguese Champions qualified for the group stages last season and will be favourites to progress.
To understand a little more about Rangers opponents I spoke to Portuguese sports journalist Ines Braga Sampaio ahead of a midweek encounter where Rangers will hope to attract a big crowd under the lights in Govan.
Both sides will believe they have the tools to make the group stages but the feeling in Portugal is that Benfica may have been dealt a kind hand as Ines explains, “Respectfully, Rangers are currently not one of the big names in the women’s game and I think Benfica’s fans would have been a little bit more anxious if they had drawn against somebody like Juventus (the Italians were quarter-finalists last year). There’s definitely still caution but they also believe that they can get through the tie.”
Like Rangers, Benfica’s campaign started in the Qualifying Round of the Champions Path, a straightforward 9–0 victory over Kosovar champions KFF Hajvalia lined up a Group Stage Final against hosts, Twente. The Portuguese Champions got the better of their Dutch couterparts on that occasion and a year later, the result would be the same as Ines recounts, “The victory over Hajvalia wasn’t that much of a challenge, which was expected, but having played Twente last year the two teams knew each other well. Benfica, in particular, hadn’t changed a lot.
The game being in the Netherlands made things much harder, but Benfica were able to use the quality of their attacking players and counter-attacks to win 2–1. There were, of course, some moments of anxiety because Twente are a very good team and both sides were well matched, but on the day Benfica did enough to get through.”
There are parallels to be drawn between Rangers and their Portuguese visitors. Rangers Women may have been formed in 2008 (as Rangers Ladies) but it’s only in recent seasons that investment into the side has arrived, resulting in a first ever SWPL title last term.
In Lisbon, Portugal’s most decorated men’s side didn’t even have a women’s equivalent until December 2017 but their growth since has been rapid. “They first played in the Second Division” continues Ines, “finishing the season as champions and they were clearly a lot better than everyone else in the league, easily sealing promotion. Despite an interruption caused by COVID they would follow that by winning the First Division in their debut season and then made it two-in-a-row last summer.”
Benfica finished the 2021–22 Campeonato Nacional Feminino Championship Stage nine points clear of city rivals Sporting Club but what has been the secret to their rapid rise? For Ines, consistency and a talented attacking quintet have been key, “The thing with Benfica is they are a team that hasn’t changed too much, especially in the past two, three years. The players are very used to playing with each other and it’s a team that doesn’t depend on a stylistically pretty game.
In Portugal, I would say Sporting Club have a more enjoyable style of football, at least to my preference, but Benfica have such quality players, especially in attack. They have a quintet of amazing players, all forward-minded in Ana Vitória, Kika Nazareth, Cloé Lacasse, Jessica Silva and Andreia Norton (Nazareth and Silva both missed Benfica’s 4–0 win away to Albergaria on Saturday). Those five players are so good that they can really tip the scales in favour of Benfica, even in games when they are not playing to their collective potential and their ability is definitely something Rangers have to be mindful of.”
Rangers themselves, have won praise this season for their attacking efficiency, summer signing Jenny Danielsson has just been voted SWPL Player of the Month, and for Ines the similarities continue, “Against theoretically weaker teams, they like to have the ball and control the game. They don’t have players that are that quick but they’re all very technically skilled and intelligent, they can be decisive in games even when playing tough opposition. We saw that against Sporting Club in the Portuguese Super Cup, where collectively they weren’t as good as Sporting but in a moment those attacking combinations turned the game in their favour. Benfica’s value definitely hangs more on those individualities than a style of play, a strong team that will prove very tough for Rangers to beat.”
Of the five players mentioned Ines identifies Canadian international Cloé Lacasse as the best of the bunch, the 29-year-old signed for the Portuguese Champions in 2019 and has scored at an impressive rate, including against Albergaria on Saturday, but her game is much more than just goals. “I think she’s been the best player in Portugal for two or three years. She’s not a traditional striker. She can also play as a winger and her movement often causes defensive confusion. She’s a goalscorer, very fast, technically skilled and very, very smart. She’s also a Canadian international and it’s not just anyone who makes it to the Canadian national team!”
It has not been a straightforward few months for Head Coach Filipa Patão though and injuries have seen a tweak in Benfica’s style, “She lost her starting right back, Matilde Hidalgo who moved to Real Betid this summer and then her replacement Catarina Amado returned from the Euros with an injury. All of a sudden she had no right backs to play with.”
So what was the resolution? “She has moved the team into a different formation”, explains Ines, “Now they play in a 3–4–3, which is very pliable, again, because of the mobility of the players. Filipa Patão is definitely a coach that has a starting architecture but then lets the players move within it, keeping the shape fluid.
The wingers tend to go inside a lot and the the players that are more forward tend to go out wide in return but also I think all that attacking movement hangs on having three defenders at the back and the two defensive midfielders, Pauleta and Andreia Faria. Patão allows her players a lot of freedom but they are also very organised and that comes from the routine of playing together for the last couple of years. If the defensive five keep their structure then the other five have a lot of freedom within the system although sometimes that leads to players very clearly playing out of position, which doesn’t always benefit them. For example, you have Kika Nazareth who is very clearly better in the middle than she is on the wings, she’s often stuck out wide, she still has the freedom to go inside but it’s not her natural position.
For some Patão sometimes gives too much freedom to her players but in Portugal it is a strategy that works in 90% of games because the quality is not there across the league. We’ll see if it’s enough in Europe, though.”
So how can Rangers, who themselves now face similar challenges (they have already won 14–0, 8–0, 6–0 and 5–0 this season in the SWPL) as the shifting sands of women’s football move ever quicker at both domestic and continental level, get the better of Benfica on Tuesday night? Ines thinks square pegs in round holes could see Patão’s side become unstuck, “One of their centre backs at the moment is left back Lucía Alves and as previously mentioned they don’t have the option of a fit right back, something that the opposition could exploit despite the formational tweak.
Defensively they often organise into lines of five or even four but unless the left back plays on the right, they will never have a natural full back in role. They are also such an attack minded team that even when they concede possession they’re always thinking of ways to to get the ball back quickly to attack and that leads to moments where there is a lack of balance. The defensive midfielders can control that but it can be exploited. It’s almost like they are two teams of five joined together as one. There’s definitely some fragility in that sense.”
Benfica will go into the first leg on Tuesday as favourites and the hope back in Portugal is that they will once again make the group stages, especially since they are Portugal’s sole representative in this season’s Champions League, “The group stage is definitely the goal. That’s where they’ve gotten used to being and I think they have the quality to expect that this season. From a Portuguese perspective hopefully they have enough, earning more co-efficient points so we can finally have two teams in the Champions League going forward.”
Rangers host Benfica this Tuesday, the 20th September at Ibrox Stadium with a 7:30pm kick-off. Tickets are available here.
If you want to know more about Portuguese women’s football and Portuguese sport in general than make sure to follow Ines here, and a huge thanks to her for sharing some local insight.
If you are looking for a little bit of extra reading on Rangers then I would recommend this in-depth piece on Total Analysis from David Astill looking at the defending champions strong start to the 2022/23 season.