Benfica's men's handball team suffered their first defeat in the National Championship after losing to Porto 37-33 at the Luz Pavilion. After winning the first two rounds of the League, the reds got off to a disastrous start in the Classic, finding themselves already down 5-0 after just seven minutes of play, which caught the team led by Anders Hallberg, who replaced Jota González as head coach, off guard.
Benfica managed to quickly regain their composure, scoring three unanswered goals from Porto in just over a minute. At the 15-minute mark, the eagles achieved their first equalizer of the match, fixing the score at 8-8. From that point on, the game became balanced, with lead changes, and the first half ended tied at 17-17.
In the second half, however, Porto demonstrated superiority, always remaining ahead on the scoreboard throughout the entire second period. The blue and whites never allowed Benfica to take the lead, controlling the pace of the game until the final whistle, which confirmed the Portistas' victory by 37-33.
With this result, Benfica suffers their first defeat in the competition and returns to the court next Saturday, October 19th, to try to get back on the winning path in the National Handball Championship.
