Benfica B defeated Académica 3:0 at the Estádio Cidade de Coimbra on Thursday evening, moving further clear in the Liga Portugal 2 regular season. The visitors took all three points after a comfortable display that saw them score three times before the break and extend their advantage in the second half. The result leaves Benfica B in sixth place with ten points from six games, while Académica remain eighth with nine points after three defeats.
Francisco Silva opened the scoring in the sixteenth minute, finding the net to give Benfica B an early lead. Olivio Tomé doubled the advantage thirteen minutes later, capitalising on a moment of opportunity to make it two. By then the match was already slipping from Académica's control, and the hosts could find no answer to the visitors' movement.
Hugo Nunes received a yellow card in the thirty-eighth minute, a booking that came before he was substituted at half-time. Xavier Grande Sánchez was shown a yellow card shortly after the restart in the forty-eighth minute, adding to Académica's disciplinary issues. The visitors maintained their pressure and could run away with the game.
Lima Felipe scored Benfica B's third goal in the sixty-first minute, finishing off a move that had the home side scrambling. Académica made several changes in an attempt to find a response, bringing on Rui Gomes, Nuno Miguel Madeira Fernandes Felix, and Tiago Freitas around the hour mark. More substitutions followed, including Ilies Faure and Kevin Zohi in the seventy-first minute, but the deficit remained insurmountable.
Académica dominated possession at 0.65 to 0.35 and registered 13 corners compared to three for the visitors. They took 17 shots with five on target, while Benfica B managed four shots on target from 17 attempts. The hosts had 128 attacks to 66 for the visitors, but the statistics show that quantity of chances did not translate into quality. Shots accuracy figures of 0.21 for the home side against 0.36 for Benfica B tell the same story.
The defeat means Académica have not won since their match against Tondela on 21 August, and the run of results has left them behind Benfica B in the table. Benfica B's victory extends their unbeaten run to three games, with three wins and one draw in their last four outings. The visitors held a high line and found the space behind the home defence when it mattered most.