The ball – Benfica defeats Sporting and reaches the cup final (volleyball)

Benfica beat Sporting 3-0 in the Lisbon derby (20-25, 22-25 and 19-25), at the end of the day, in a match marking the first semi-final of the Portuguese Cup, which has won four finals. Place in Viana do Castelo.

Cup-and-record holders with 19 first-division victories saw the Eagles go in with a clean-shaven treble with points from José Masso and Brian Melgarejo and an ace from Toms Svans. The first half maintained its balance until a mistake by Thiago Barth allowed Benfica to advance in the match for the first time (6-7).

The Reds took action through captain Hugo Gaspar and Tiago Violas, a distributor who allowed the first two points (8-11). With more or less ability to respond, Sporting lost its sealed train set due to a fault in Melgarejo’s service.

The second group started with Benfica in advantage from start to finish, after it reached a gap of five points (7-12). The Lions came close at the end of the set, but with a miss on Massu’s height, Marcel Matz’s men sealed the set point.

Joao Coelho’s men did not give up in the third set, leading 5-2, but in one go, with a shot and a flawless save, Andre Aleixo put Benfica and equal, but only later gave the same Gaba the point that allowed the Reds to move (13-15) . However, the decision was not made. With changes in the lead, it partially finished 7-0 with a block from Peter Wolf, giving victory to the Reds who are now awaiting the outcome of another semi-final match between Fonte do Bastardo and Castelo da Maia, which will only be played. At 22.30, on the Monserrate wing, after the Azores group had problems with flights to leave the island of Terceira.

Rafa Oliveira of Benfica was the top scorer of the match (15), one point ahead of José Masso (14) of Sporting.