Mix! Belenenses Forced To Face Benfica With 9 Players, 2 Of Them Goalkeepers

Balenenses play with just nine players (Twitter @OsBelenensesSAD)

JAKARTA - An unusual incident occurred in the Portuguese League which brought Belenenses against Benfica. The match was somewhat odd, because the Belenenses team only fielded nine players and were forced to face Benfica with full players.

This chaos began when Belenenses was scheduled to host Benfica in the match week 12 of the 2021 Portuguese League at the Jamor National Sports Center on Sunday, November 28. But before the start of the match, Belenenses as the host actually gave bad news.

Fourteen members of their team tested positive for COVID-19 just moments before the match. This leaves their squad understaffed as the players who test positive have to undergo isolation.

Não foi a estreia que muitos sonharam, mas o nosso orgulho não tem limites by Kapta+#TorresdeBelem #LigaPortugal #Futebol #Portugal pic.twitter.com/00xuKHjpGJ

— Belenenses Futebol SAD (@OsBelenensesSAD) November 28, 2021

With the lack of Belenenses players, it is predicted that today's match will be postponed. However, in reality, the game continues.

The Balenenses have to face Benfica anyway. In fact, Belenenses could only field nine players in that match where he was a goalkeeper.

With that situation, the course of the game is certain to be chaotic. Belenenses was beaten badly in the first half with a score of 0-7. The score also continued to hold until finally the referee decided to take a break at halftime.

The situation became increasingly out of control after the break ended, the Belenenses squad clearly could not continue the game in the second half. This is because of the previous nine players, only seven players returned to the field to compete against Benfica.

Although Belenenses only had seven players, the referee was still continuing the game. But not long after, the match was stopped because one of the Belenenses players collapsed due to injury.

Bravos #TorresdeBelem #LigaPortugal #Futebol #Portugal pic.twitter.com/DKQcSCpw1q

— Belenenses Futebol SAD (@OsBelenensesSAD) November 27, 2021

Whether the player was injured or not, the situation finally made the referee stop the match. He stopped the game because the rules state that a team cannot continue to play a game without a minimum of seven players on the pitch.

Quoted from The Guardian, before the match, it turned out that the Belenenses players had issued a statement. They satirized the league's decision to keep playing against Benfica.

"Football only has heart if it's competitive. Football only has heart if it's really sporty."

"Football only has a heart when it is an example of public health. Today, football has lost its heart," the Belenenses players said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Rui Costa as President of Benfica said that his party did not try to propose a postponement of the schedule for fear of disrupting the existing schedule.

"The calendar has not been well planned - and the consequences are clearly visible," he said, quoted by the same source.