FIFA Club World Cup Benfica Vs Boca Juniors Ends In 2-2 Chaos With 3 Red Cards And Late Drama

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Boca Juniors have turned the Club World Cup into South American football and even the referee can’t stop them from turning the heat up.

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FIFA Club World Cup Benfica Vs Boca Juniors 

Boca Juniors comes here from Argentina but it is Benfica who have 2 Argentina World Cup heroes in their team. Angel Di Maria and Nicolas Otamendi, play for Benfica. Although over their prime they still produced the magic on the field as they scored the goals for Benfica.

It looked like Benfica would have it easy but Boca Juniors led by the crowd support have made a bold statement about their football.

Benfica Vs Boca Juniors 1st half

The 1st half started with Benfica dominating the ball and Boca ready to dig deep and stay compact. Benfica tried to rattle the defence but were up to no luck. The deadlock broke in the 21st minute of the game, but to everyone’s surprise Boca Juniors scored the goal in their 1st attack on goal. Merential led from the front and finished with a deft touch in front of the goal. 

This goal led the momentum shift towards Boca, who started to weave passes and started to look dangerous on the ball. 

Crowd went delirious as Battaglia headed home the ball from a corner rebound

This spell of possession resulted in another Boca goal and the crowd went delirious as Battaglia headed home the ball from a corner rebound into the box. 

The match became scrappy after that with Benfica gaining back the ball possession but tackles went flying in from left and right. 

In the 45th minute, Otamendi got fouled inside the Boca penalty box and after VAR intervention, the referee decided on a penalty. This decision was not taken nicely by Boca players and Ander Herrera who got substituted in the 20th minute was also red carded for displaying dissent to the referee’s decision. 

Di Maria converted the penalty and 2-1 on the scoresheet, it looked like game on for both the teams.

Benfica Vs Boca Juniors 2nd half

The 2nd half saw the game become more of a street brawl as every tackle, every card evoked reactions from all over the field and it became difficult for the referee to control. Benfica were able to control the ball but were not able to provide quality in the 3rd quarter of the pitch.

Belotti was shown a red card in the 72nd minute for a high boot situation that was reviewed by the referee through VAR. 

Nicolas Otamendi headed in a beautiful training ground routine

But even after going 1 man down, Benfica produced the equaliser at 84th minute through Nicolas Otamendi, who headed in a beautiful training ground routine and brought his team back into the game. It was too late for a comeback as both teams settled for a draw but not before another red card for Boca Juniors. 

The game saw a total of 3 red cards, a total of 21 fouls and innumerable violent situations. But could not produce a winner as 4 goals could not separate the two teams.

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