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#3 Alfa Semedo
Benfica and AEK Athens both were coming off a loss on matchday 1. And they played out an amazing game in a 5 goal thriller. Benfica were backed heavily to win the match but it didn’t come without a fight. Seferovic opened the scoring in the 6th minute, followed by the young player from La Masia Alex Grimaldo in the 15th minute. Benfica went into halftime with a two-goal lead and well in the driver’s seat. Athens though hit back with two quick goals from Klonaridis within a space of two minutes. A man down on Benfica’s side, Athens with the momentum were good to add to the lead or close it out. But it was a substitute who decide the game with a moment of magic.
Alfa Semedo replaced Pizzi in the midfield in the 62nd minute. The 21-year-old joined Benfica only this summer. Semedo scored his first goal for Benfica in all competitions and it earned them all three points in the crucial game ahead of the Ajax game. Semedo took the ball away from the AEK midfield intercepting their exchange of passes. He accelerated into the open field ahead on the counter with only one player in front and that too in an offside position. Semedo kept going with the pace until Dmytro Chygrynskiy popped in front and Semedo was forced to go a bit towards his right. Having beaten Chygyrnskiy, Semedo had a clear vision on goal and he pushed the defenders back in thought that he will move inside the box. Niklas Hult didn’t even try to tackle him. With a clear sight at goal and defence on the backfoot, Semedo pulled the trigger with all the momentum of the run. A clean, grounded strike towards the lower left post of the goal that beat the keeper and Semedo was off into a berserk celebration.
A goal that combined the intercepting, dribbling and shooting skills of Alfa Semedo.
