Benfica fought fiercely until the third period, but after that, differences began to appear between the defeated qualifiers for the last edition of the Champions League, and the Eagles lost to Hapoel Jerusalem 66-84, adding the first defeat in this edition of the tournament. a race.

After getting on the right foot, beating PAOK 94-72Benfica, the two-time defending national champion, was once again playing in the Champions League, and this time, the opponent was Hapoel Jerusalem, one of the best teams in the competition, but affected by the war conflict between Israel and Hamas, which made this game to begin with. It has been postponed to this Wednesday. As for the Reds, Ben Ramadan left at the last minute due to injury.

With a clear disadvantage in terms of centimetres, Benfica knew how to protect themselves, collectively defended very well, with good exchanges, exploring the ball circulation well in attack, using Daniel Relvao’s post well in the penalty area, and ended up surprising favorites Hapoel Jerusalem. In the first half, they led 24-17 after the first 10 minutes.

The Eagles fought until the end @FIBA

Hapoel knew what they needed to improve on and it was difficult for Benfica to remain strong in defensive rotations, as we saw in the second half. The Israelis moved the ball faster, launched the trio and took advantage of Ndour’s post, partially achieving 0-10 in the first minutes, which changed the course of the match and the momentum, to the point that Hapoel increased the advantage and reached the break leading on goal difference. 39-46.

The match was good, but the break did not help, as the match was stopped for about 40 minutes, due to an electronic problem in the Pavelhão da Luz scoreboard, and despite this (big) setback, which allowed even the winger to be okay and calmer, after the end of the football match, he started Benfica did well and within a few minutes reduced the gap to just one point, but the Reds’ attack stopped in the final minutes, and the matter became clear and Hapoel increased the advantage. To 10 points (54-64).

This was a tall mountain for the Reds, made all the more difficult by their poor start to the fourth period, with Hapoel taking advantage of Benfica’s lack of concentration to increase their advantage. The Israeli team, defeated in the final of the last edition of the Champions League, showed maturity when it came to managing the advantage, taking advantage of the Eagles’ lack of offensive inspiration and ended up winning 66-84. On the individual level, the highlight of the match was Levi Randolph, who finished the game with 18 points, 9 rebounds, and 6 assists.