With Manchester United conducting regular scouting trips to the Estádio da Luz for years, club scouts look for special nights when local talents excel.
The Champions League clash between Benfica and Barcelona was certainly the occasion to be at, because with the Eagles winning 3-0, there was plenty of good things to see coming from the home side.
It’s newspaper A Bola who says officials from Red Devils were again in Lisbon, along with emissaries from another 30 European clubs.
And even though it isn’t said who the Old Trafford side were watching, we can get a clear picture of the Benfica players who should have impressed scouts last night.
The man of the match was, of course, Darwin Nunez. The Argentine striker not only found the opening goal in the third minute, which changed the course of the game, but also scored a penalty and was close to getting a hat-trick, as he also hit the post.
Of course beating Barcelona 3-0 takes a lot more than a prolific striker, so Benfica defenders Lucas Veríssimo and Nicolas Otamendi also did great in stopping the Catalan attack, just like Julian Weigl, João Mário and Rafa Silva were crucial in controlling the midfield. Especially the latter one, who besides scoring a goal, did an unusual job by helping them defend as well.
Now this isn’t the first time Manchester United scouted Benfica this season, and this isn’t the first time they’ve seen a brace scored by Darwin Nunez, as club scouts were there when he found the net twice against Boavista.
So even though the Red Devils are full of good options for the centre-forward position, we can’t ignore the fact they’ve been regularly seeing a 22-year-old striker who has six goals in seven appearances this season.
