Otamendi dampens Boca’s excitement.

When Boca seemed to have managed the match in the alley where they could best control it, having dried up Benfica’s ideas and already anticipating the first victory of a South American team against a European one, Nicolás Otamendi, a River fan, stole the prize by heading in a corner. Nothing elaborate, just a classic of the oldest kind. The Portuguese salvaged a draw with two set pieces (a penalty and that corner) which had eluded them in open play, where they showed more variety and finesse.

2

Agustín Marchesín, Luis Advíncula, Lautaro Blanco, Ayrton Costa, Nicolás Figal, Ander Herrera (Tomás Belmonte, min. 19), Kevin Zenón, Rodrigo Battaglia, Alan Velasco (Milton Giménez, min. 58), Carlos Palacios (Williams Alarcón, min. 65) and Miguel Merentiel (Exequiel Zeballos, min. 64)

2

Anatolii Trubin, Nicolás Otamendi, Álvaro Carreras, António Silva, Samuel Dahl (Andrea Belotti, min. 45), Renato Sanches (Orkun Kökçü, min. 60), Fredrik Aursnes, Florentino (Leandro Barreiro, min. 89), Vangelis Pavlidis, Bruma (Kerem Aktürkoglu, min. 60) and Ángel Di María (Gianluca Prestianni, min. 76)

Goals
1-0 min. 20: Miguel Merentiel. 2-0 min. 26: Battaglia. 2-1 min. 47: Di María. 2-2 min. 83: Otamendi

Referee César Arturo Ramos Palazuelos

Yellow cards
Carlos Palacios (min. 65), Álvaro Fernández (min. 67), Vangelis Pavlidis (min. 82), Ayrton Costa (min. 84)

Red cards
Ander Herrera (min. 44), Belotti (min. 71), Jorge Figal (min. 87)

But football often tips the scale contrary to what the ball suggests. Often, in favor of the emotional current. Boca entered the match immersed in internal discussions, from the boardroom to the pitch, and faced a team that was academic and dominant. Benfica came to Miami still riding the good momentum of the Champions League. And the start was just that, a team that had competed until the Round of 16 of the European Cup, almost solely against another half-disoriented team.

The Portuguese dominated the midfield with Renato Sanches, Bruma, and Florentino Luis. Di María, still lively at 37, had his compatriots bewildered. He appeared on the right, on the left; he darted through the middle, always finding solutions to unsettle Miguel Ángel Russo’s team. They entered the area, hit the post, and Boca regrouped while displaying a raw game, stirred up by their supporters.

Play was accompanied by the growing soundtrack of the Boca stands, which had been warming up their voices since the day before when thousands gathered in Miami Beach. A happy and confident crowd in their push. A small piece of La Bombonera. Below, their fans crowded to blind Benfica. But it was difficult for them. They barely connected passes.

It didn’t matter. Football yields results in many ways, and Boca just needed to find a couple of heads. It wasn’t about crafting a plan: it was enough to support two crosses. First, a long ball to the left side that reached Lautaro Blanco. He nutmegged his defender, crossed it into the area, and there appeared Uruguayan Merentiel at the near post, a gentle touch, tap, and goal.

The Boca fans raised the volume. They stirred the crowd. Physically. The Hard Rock swayed to the waves of “Dale Bo…”. Then, a corner to the far post, a header there to the near post and another from Battaglia to find the net. Bruno Lage was shaking his head on the Portuguese bench. Incredulous. His machinery flowed correctly, but they were trailing. Boca retains intact competitive attributes that resurface in big stages.

The beginning of Benfica’s rescue also didn’t appear in their manual. It didn’t come from open play. Otamendi was left on the turf in the area after a corner without the referee having seen anything. But the VAR room had caught something. They alerted the referee to review the monitor, who, before checking images, sent off Ander Herrera. The Spaniard had been watching the match from Boca’s bench after having to leave injured minutes earlier. Then he could review the video, where he found a foul by Palacios, and in one of the tournament’s novel touches, he explained over the stadium’s loudspeakers why he was awarding a penalty. Di María gently pushed it into the net as Marchesín dove to his left.

Boca managed their advantage while Benfica was losing precision in their maneuvers. They could no longer unsettle the Argentines so much, who were riding the relentless current of their supporters. The Portuguese were clouded, visiting the area less frequently. Russo’s team wonderfully manages a scenario like this, increasing the opponent’s desperation as the clock ticks down. They distract seconds from anywhere, during an eternal throw-in, or with the goalkeeper suddenly lying down with a sudden ailment that disappears without any medical intervention. They even had three players lying on the grass while their fans made the stadium sway again.

Time was running in their favor, even more so when VAR suggested to the referee that Belotti be sent off, and the referee agreed. He had kicked César Ramos on the head. The Portuguese lost a player and five minutes amid attention and glances at the monitor. Boca had them where they wanted. Until, more unfocused than ever, Benfica found a remedy in a corner that Otamendi connected with. Precisely Otamendi, who faced the stands of those compatriots who had whistled him from the start. And he extinguished their enthusiasm.