Leandro Barreiro scored in the 76th and 78th minutes as Benfica pulled away to a 6-0 victory over semi-pro side Auckland City in a Group C encounter Friday, one plagued by a lengthy halftime weather delay.
Angel Di María converted twice from the penalty spot for his second and third goals of the tournament, once in stoppage time of each half. Vangelis Pavlidis and Renato Sanches added goals early in the second half after play finally restarted.
The Portuguese victors pressured until the end, knowing goal differential could determine who advances to the FIFA Club World Cup knockout phase, and Di María earned a second penalty shot with one final slaloming run into the box.
Benfica will close Group C against Bayern Munich, which defeated Auckland 10-0 in their opener. Officially eliminated, Auckland will play Boca Juniors on Matchday 3 on Tuesday.
Boca and Benfica drew 2-2 on Monday.
After Auckland’s Nathan Garrow made seven first-half stops, Di Maria finally put Benfica in front in the eighth minute of first-half stoppage time.
Gianluca Prestianni won the opportunity, slicing into the right corner of the box and weathering Haris Zeb’s late sliding challenge.
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Di Maria calmly converted, allowing Garrow to guess in the wrong direction before dispatching his side-footed effort.
That eased some growing frustration from the Portuguese favourites after a succession of missed chances and 18 total first-half shot attempts.
Amid that stretch, Alvaro Carreras picked up his second caution of the tournament, meaning he’ll be suspended for Benfica’s third match against River Plate on Tuesday.
Auckland began the second half energetically after the match was delayed approximately two hours and nine minutes due to inclement weather.
But Benfica doubled its advantage in the 53rd minute through Pavlidis, who received Orkun Kokcu’s pass inside the penalty area with his back to the goal, turned, neatly evaded a lunging challenge and finished low to the left post.
In the 63rd minute, substitute Sanches made it 3-0 only moments after his second-half introduction. His shot from beyond the area took a heavy deflection off Auckland’s Matthew Ellis on its way into the bottom right corner.
Content Source: sportstar.thehindu.com