TORONTO – Panathinaikos could not capitalize against an undermanned SL Benfica squad, playing to a scoreless draw in a rough affair Sunday before a largely pro-Benfica crowd at BMO Field.
The showdown between the Portuguese and Greek league champions had the makings of a good tussle, but was marred early by fouls and a fight that ended the first half.
It wasn’t a great match, but both teams are at the end of the season the most important is for us is to be with the Portuguese fans that live here,” said Benfica striker Nuno Gomes. “In the second half our team with one man out, we tried to do our best, I think the result is fair at the end of the game.”
With the World Cup just 19 days away, both teams were without key players currently away preparing with their countries.
Benfica were missing Portuguese league leading scorer Oscar Cardozo of Paraguay, Argentina midfielder Ángel di María, and the Brazilian duo of defender Luisão and midfielder Ramires. French international and club leading scorer Djibril Cissé and Giorgos Karagounis of Greece were absent from the Panathinaikos lineup.
But that didn’t stop the two 2010-11 UEFA Champions League-bound clubs from displaying fireworks.
Billed a friendly, the game was anything but, with five yellow cards in the first half culminating in a melee at the end that brought the half to an unofficial close without a halftime whistle.
Benfica captain David Luiz fouled Panathinaikos midfielder Stergos Marinos in first half injury-time, earning a second yellow and an automatic red-card ejection. Then on the ensuing play a Benfica player was fouled eliciting no caution.
That instigated a fight that quickly degenerated as team officials raced onto the field to rein in their players. The referee and his assistants idly watched and then headed to the locker rooms under a torrent of boos to end the half.
“Maybe the referee made some decisions that weren’t fair for both teams, and it was a little bit confusing at the end of the first half, but nothing special,” Gomes said. “We spoke altogether here at halftime and in second time you saw that there were no problems, so things can happen in football sometimes.”
Benfica came into the game off a 4-0 shutout of MLS’s New England Revolution on May 19 in Foxborough, Mass. But the opposition wasn’t so easy this time, as Panathinaikos had the better of the scoring opportunities overall.
Among them was a header from striker Ante Rakanina in the 66th minute that hit the crossbar, easily the best chance in the second half to break the draw.
