This was quite an entertaining match between two historical clubs at a fiery San Paolo stadium. Napoli scored three goals but they had conceded two at home, which might be harmful for them on the second leg at Estádio da Luz. Regarding Benfica, it was nice to watch striker David Suazo scoring on his debut but it was also quite painful seeing some of the defensive mistakes that were committed.

Coach Quique Flores bet on an offensive eleven, with wingers Urretavizcaya and Reyes trying to supply free role attacker Di María and striker David Suazo. There was only Yebda and Carlos Martins in the centre midfield and we wonder if that was a sensible vision by Quique Flores, especially when right-back Maxi Pereira is a weak player who can't provide much depth or consistency. Quique loves the 4-4-2 and he wants to build Benfica around that formation. However, he has to realise that Carlos Martins is not very prone to defend. Sometimes he shows aggression, yes, but on the negative side, with avoidable hard tackling, showing he can easily lose his temper. Thus, only Yebda can do something regarding ball recovery. Urreta and Reyes are simply not made for that: they are pacey wingers, although the latter enjoys running into the middle. Well, this was a nice debut for the Honduran ex-Inter striker David Suazo. His goal came from a good header (corner-kick taken by Reyes). However, there were negative issues. Maxi Pereira was disastrous on positioning and Sidnei should have been more tranquil. Goalkeeper Quim made one or two good saves but his rushing outs are being terrible lately. What happened to him?

Napoli had a strong reaction to Suazo's opening goal and scored two in two minutes (Vitale and Denis). They played with aggression upfront and that caused many troubles to the disturbed Benfica defenders, who also couldn't put the ball on the midfielders. The truth is that Lavezzi, Denis and Hamsik did a very strong pressing over the opposition. We said Benfica committed some defensive mistakes but we should say the same about Napoli. Santacroce, for example, failed to mark Suazo on the opening goal. On Benfica's second, the home side defenders were a bit naive, too, letting Luisão alone to beat Navarro. Both Napoli's conceded goals came from set-pieces. Napoli lost some gas on the second half but Benfica didn't raise the tempo, too. Aimar and Cardozo's absences can't explain all. We think Benfica are still building a style and a way to play. It takes time but it will take more time when some of the essential players are out. Moreover, when right-back Maxi Pereira is in the team, the odds to fail are higher. He's just too weak and maybe Quique Flores will cry for not having hired a quality right-back in the previous transfer window. A short note about Katsouranis. He played as midfielder.

Benfica must recover this one-goal disadvantage on the second leg. A 1-0 or 2-1 win would be enough due to the two away goals scored by Suazo and Luisão tonight. Anyway, coach Quique Flores still won't count on the Paraguayan striker Óscar Cardozo, as he's having his last match of suspension, following an elbow on a Getafe player last season. Other important question is knowing if attacking midfielder/second forward Pablo Aimar will be recovered from his thigh injury by then.