Pavlidis's penalty settled Benfica's 1-0 win over Alverca

Benfica beat Alverca 1-0 at home, with a penalty doing the work that their chances and the visitors' disallowed goal left undone.

Alverca had a goal ruled out by VAR after 25 minutes, the sort of decision that can change the feel of a night. The game was settled later. Vangelis Pavlidis scored from the penalty spot in the 51st minute, and that single goal was enough for Benfica to win 1-0 at the Estádio da Luz.

Benfica had 65% of the ball, which is almost exactly their usual 63.6% at home, so their share was ordinary for them. Alverca had 35%, a little under the 40.2% they usually keep on their travels. Possession explains very little here, because neither side strayed far from its normal habits.

The chances tell a sharper story. Expected goals is a rough measure of how good each shot was, scored from 0 to 1, where 1 means a certain goal. Benfica's chances added up to 1.68, well short of the 2.51 they usually create at home. Alverca's 0.61 was under half of the 1.34 they average away, and it sat well below the league average of 1.11 per side. Nine of Benfica's shots came from inside the box, against four for Alverca.

Benfica scored once, below the 2.9 goals they usually find at home. Their defence did the opposite of what they normally manage: they conceded nothing, where they usually let in 0.9 at home. Samuel Soares made four saves in goal and had the highest rating on the pitch. Alverca's goal drought was complete, against a usual 1.4 scored away, and Matheus Mendes made three saves at the other end. Both sides hit the target four times, which kept both keepers honest in equal measure.

Pavlidis did more than take the penalty. He had two shots, one of them on target, and three key passes, which is a busy return for a striker whose work is not all in front of goal. Benfica's Clément Lenglet and Alverca's Yaya Bojang were the first names to be booked, and they were not the only ones who spent time on the wrong side of the referee.

Discipline was not a deciding factor, but it was a difference. Alverca picked up three yellow cards: Bojang in the 15th minute, Francisco Chiquinho in the 58th and Ian Luccas in the 63rd. Benfica had one, for Lenglet in the 65th. Neither side received a red card, so both teams finished with eleven players on the pitch.

Benfica are second in the table and Alverca are tenth.

Player of the matchSamuel Soares4 saves8.0

V. Pavlidis1 goal7.8

Tomás Araújo6 duels won7.2

S. Dahl11 duels won7.1