The “Young Bulls” conceded a deserved 0:6 debacle against Benfica Lisbon in the final in Nyon on Monday, which became apparent early on after goals from Martim Neto (2nd) and Henrique Araujo (15th). In the second half, N’Dour (53′), Araujo (57′, 89’/penalty) and Luis Semedo (69′) followed suit.
Benfica took revenge on Salzburg for the defeat in the 2017 final and celebrated the highest final win ever in the UEFA youth competition, which has been held since 2013/14. On the way to the final, Salzburg defeated FC Sevilla, VfL Wolfsburg and Paris Saint-Germain, among others, and even beat Atletico Madrid 5-0 in the semifinals. However, Rene Aufhauser’s protégés were not able to match this performance – on the contrary: they were caught cold in the first few minutes.
After 110 seconds, goalie Adam Stejskal saved in extremis from an Araujo chance. After that, Salzburg couldn’t get the ball out of the danger zone and Neto hit the far corner with a low shot from close range. Mozartstadt responded with a try from Oumar Diakite, in which Benfica goalkeeper Andre Gomes won (3rd). However, the technically clearly superior Portuguese continued to dominate, Stejskal defused a top chance from Araujo (7th).
In the 15th minute, the Salzburg goalie was beaten again. Araujo converted a direct shot from Neto – the two players featured in Benfica’s 2020 Youth League final defeat by Real Madrid. The pace dropped as a result, but Salzburg posed two more threats before the break. Andre Gomes saved a shot from Roko Simic over the bar (37′) and saved a header from Lukas Wallner (40′).
Soon after the change of sides, Salzburg’s hopes of a turnaround were finally over. First, a cross that Wallner unluckily deflected fell right in front of Cher N’Dour’s legs, who shot in to make it 3-0 (53′). Then Salzburg could be countered, Araujo rounded Stejskal and made it 4-0 (57th). Twelve minutes later “Joker” Semedo made it 5-0, Araujo made the final score from a penalty (89′).
Benfica was thus able to celebrate the Youth League trophy for the first time after three previous defeats in the final and clinched the first triumph in a UEFA competition since the European Cup of Champions in 1962. Coach Bela Guttmann uttered a curse that the “Adler” would not win a European title for the next 100 years. Since then, Benfica have lost eleven international finals (Champion Cup 1963, 1965, 1968, 1988, 1990, UEFA Cup 1983, Europa League 2013, 2014, Youth League 2014, 2017, 2020).
Source: Nachrichten
