Benfica Macau has confirmed it´s major superiority and claimed their 5th Macau Elite League title in a row with two matches remaining. The title match was against Monte Carlo, which was the last Macau champion before the Benfica five titles.
Before the start of the league, many people thought that C.P.K. could end Benfica supremacy, C.P.K. built a great team during pre-season, coupled with the regular Benfica travels due to the AFC Cup commitment. But that prediction was not accurate, since Benfica once again has dominated the Macau league building a good advantage to C.P.K. right in the first half of the season.
With 7 points separating Benfica and C.P.K., a win in this weekend match against Monte Carlo was enough to seal the championship. Monte Carlo did everything that they could to prevent it to happen, but a first half goal scored by Nicholas Torrão was enough to claim all 3 points for the champions. Despite the close final result, the match was completely controlled by Benfica which saw a great exhibition from Monte Carlo and Macau national team goalkeeper Ho Man Fai. Monte Carlo tried to explore the counter attack but that was not enough to score any goal.
“Only missed the goals, in the first half we had 21 opportunities. There was a little bit of anxiety in wanting to do things very fast. There were two or three situations in which we could have suffered (the goal), we must have had 75% of ball possession, but what counts in football are goals, and a slouch on our part could have mean the equalizer, because we only scored one goal.” Benfica Macau coach, Bernardo Tavares reacted after the match.
Now the highlight of the last two matches of the season will be the fight for the 2nd place, C.P.K. has two more points than Sporting Macau. Both teams improved a lot in the second half of the season, and to get this fight more spicy, Sporting and C.P.K. will play against each other next weekend in what will be the highlight match of the Macau Elite League round 17. C.P.K. is particularly motivated since has achieved the 100 goal mark of the season, which can prove the lethal attack that this team possesses.
The relegation fight will be decided between three teams, Hang Sai, Lai Chi and Alfandega are all in danger, Alfendega is in the last spot of the table and can be relegated next weekend, if they loose the relegation six pointer match against Hang Sai, leaving the final place for Lai Chi or Hang Sai which are only separated by a single point and will face each other in the last round of the league.
Macau Elite League will come to an end on July 1st with an always existing “Portuguese derby” between Benfica Macau and Sporting Macau.
(photo: Macau Bolinha e Bolão)
