Pavlidis Powers Benfica Past Chaves: Ruthless Finishing Ends Hosts’ Cup Run, Redefining Taça de Portugal Stakes
As the sun dipped behind the granite stands of Estadio Municipal de Chaves, the atmosphere churned with anticipation and local hope. For Chaves, buoyed by a string of commanding results in league play, tonight’s Taça de Portugal clash against Benfica represented not just a test of mettle, but a chance to assert themselves on the national stage. But from the eighth minute onward, those hopes met the unrelenting force of Vangelis Pavlidis—a striker whose finishing mastery drew a line through Chaves’s ambitions.
Benfica arrived in northern Portugal dogged by recent frustration—a goalless draw at Porto that left supporters restless, and a narrow Champions League defeat to Chelsea that stung more for its missed opportunity than its margin. Yet in the cup’s win-or-go-home format, the Lisbon giants found their precision, recalibrating their attack with clinical intent. Pavlidis, twice a scorer against Gil Vicente last month, wasted no time in making this knockout tie his own. Barely eight minutes had elapsed when Benfica’s patterns began to slice through Chaves’s defensive posture; a quick interchange on the edge of the area released Pavlidis, whose first-touch finish arrowed beyond the reach of the sprawling goalkeeper. The Greek international’s early strike not only unsettled the home crowd but put Benfica in full command—a theme that would define the evening.
Chaves, for their part, entered this showdown on the back of five matches without defeat—a run marked by consecutive victories in the Segunda Liga and a defiant cup triumph at Paredes. The team’s defensive organization, recently so effective in league play, was repeatedly asked to bend but not break under Benfica’s pressing. They found glimpses of respite in midfield, with surging runs and moments of composure, but the red shirts swarmed—each interception, each sliding challenge symbolizing the visitors’ intent to set the pace.
The hosts’ clearest chance came midway through the first half: a loose ball in the box presented itself to Carraça, hero of their last cup outing, but a desperate block by António Silva deflected the danger. With the clock ticking toward halftime, Chaves managed to stem the tide, reconfiguring their lines and forcing Benfica into wider channels. Yet, for all their resolve, a breakthrough eluded them. The lack of firepower—so evident in their inability to test Benfica’s goalkeeper—would prove decisive.
As the second half unfolded, both managers made tactical adjustments. Chaves, sensing the urgency, pushed bodies forward in hope of an equalizer, opening themselves to counterattack. Benfica, sensing an opportunity to settle the result, recycled possession and waited for their moment. It arrived in the 79th minute—again, courtesy of Pavlidis. Latching onto a threaded pass from João Mário, Pavlidis shrugged off his marker and unleashed a right-footed shot that clipped the inside of the post and nestled into the net. The celebration in the away section was raucous; Benfica’s lead, once precarious, now felt insurmountable.
No red cards marred this contest, and the referee’s interventions rarely shifted the evening’s narrative. Instead, the match became a testament to the margins that define cup football: a single striker’s form, the resilience of a back line, the unspoken pressure that comes when storied clubs visit small towns.
For Chaves, this defeat marks an abrupt end to their promising cup campaign, yet the broader context offers solace. Their recent league form places them in a strong mid-table position in the Segunda Liga, with four wins and a draw in their last five outings—a foundation from which to pursue promotion. Tonight’s setback, while sobering, serves as a lesson in the standards required to compete with Portugal’s elite. The road ahead holds ample opportunity to regroup and refocus.
Benfica, meanwhile, leave Chaves with questions answered and ambitions renewed. Tonight’s goals reinforce Pavlidis’s standing as one of the Primeira Liga’s most reliable marksmen, and the team’s progression in the Taça de Portugal injects momentum into what has, at times, felt like a stuttering autumn. The defense, freshly tested and unbeaten, will welcome the return to continental play with renewed confidence. As cup dreams linger in Lisbon, the focus shifts to sustaining this level in the weeks to come—where silverware and redemption both hang in the balance.
With history favoring Benfica in these head-to-head encounters, the defending Primeira Liga champions once again demonstrated the gap that remains between Portugal’s upper and middle tiers. For Chaves, tonight’s disappointment is tempered by the knowledge that their trajectory is upward—a campaign defined less by this result than the ones that surely follow. For Benfica, the task now is to sustain the ruthlessness shown tonight, a trait essential as the cup deepens and the stakes sharpen.