Tactical Analysis: Roger Schmidt's Benfica

Since leaving PSV in the summer of 2022, Roger Schmidt has settled in at a different red & (somewhat) white club, none other than Benfica. The German has led ‘As Aguias’ to a Portuguese title and a Supercup in only one and a half years at the capital club. It has been a difficult run of form for Benfica, who lost 2-1 to Sporting in the first leg of the Taca de Portugal semifinals before suffering a humiliating 5-0 loss to Porto, their first league defeat since opening day. Benfica trail Sporting by a point, with Ruben Amorim’s side having a game in hand, and they have 10 matches to make up the distance as they look to successfully defend their league title.

On paper, Benfica line-up in a 4–2–3–1 formation, with many new faces since the 22/23 season. Spanish left-back Alex Grimaldo left the club on free to join Bayer Leverkusen, while youngster Goncalo Ramos exchanged the Portuguese capital for “La Ville Lumiere," joining PSG. While two crucial players left, they have been since replaced perfectly by Morato, Arthur Cabral and co. Schmidt also likes to rotate the lineup as he has many multi-functional players, for example Fredrik Aursnes who can play in both of the wing back roles as well as in midfield.

As always, we will take a look at Benfica’s in-possession setup first. ‘Os Encarnados’ use principles of positional play in the first phase of build-up. When either of the fullbacks moves up the pitch, the other moves across to the defence and one of the midfielders drops deep to support the build-up.