By Melody Gross 
With the shortening of the calendar and the increasing scarcity of matches, it is inevitable, given the current scenario at the top of the Portuguese League, to talk about the title matches in the last five rounds. Benfica, the leader of the championship, takes this “battle” at a distance from Barcelos on Saturday (20:30) with FC Porto, who will have the word after the Eagles in this 30th round.
minimum margin
After the comfortable ten-point advantage has vanished in an instant for Roger Schmidt’s team, Minho’s mission against Gil Vicente is extremely risky and does not allow for major slip-ups. With the prospect of matches against SC Braga (31st round) and Sporting (33rd round), the captain can only think about the three points.
On the journey to the current 14th place, Roger Schmidt will already be able to count on Alexander Bah. The Danish winger has recovered from the injury he picked up against FC Porto and given the uncertainty in his position during his absence, it wouldn’t be surprising if he went straight into Schmidt’s XI.
In game statistics and lore, playing at Barcelos was a positive for the Reds. In the last four visits to Gelestas, Benfica has always won and never conceded a goal. The last defeat of the Eagles against Barcelona dates back to 2001, when Gil was still in the old Adelino Ribeiro Novo stadium, crushing it 3-0.
The Rooster is calm, but boring
Awaiting Benfica is Gil Vicente who, despite looking at restricted places on the league table with some composure, is not having a particularly happy moment in the season. Daniel Souza’s side were winless in six matches (four defeats, two draws) and showed extraordinary difficulty in finishing (one goal in those meetings).
The symbolism of this “dry gunpowder” is the unfortunate moment of scoring the marksman into service. Fran Navarro, who was praised by Roger Schmidt in the introductory press conference, has not scored in seven matches (he had goals disallowed in the middle) and partly epitomizes Jelista’s club lack of success in recent weeks.
It is also for this reason that the return of Daniel Souza’s team to good results depends mainly on the owner of the goal, which was not. If Navarro returns to his best version, Gilles becomes a real threat to the status of the leader.