Sport Witness had a close eye on Benfica’s 2-0 victory over Rio Ave on Wednesday night. According to the Portuguese press, Victor Lindelof was about to say goodbye to Benfica, playing his last game for them before moving to Manchester United.
Expecting a wave goodbye and maybe some tears at the end, we were largely left disappointed. The game wasn’t great, Lindelof wasn’t tested and the period at the end of the match which was shown didn’t reveal Lindelof doing anything different from his teammates.
Nevertheless, Portuguese newspaper A Bola think differently and after reporting all week that he’s off to Jose Mourinho and Manchester United, perhaps their eyes were more conditioned to spot something.
A Bola claim Lindelof ‘left the pitch with a farewell gesture’. It’s claimed Lindelof, towards the end of the game, blocked a shot, heard the huge roar of the crowd, with them thinking he’s off to Manchester United too, and responded by applauding.
‘In this way, Lindelof said goodbye to Luz’, say A Bola.
It’s also explained that knowing he’s now ‘probably’ (an ever so slight backtrack there) off to Manchester United, he greeted each of his teammates after the match.
We’re not 100% convinced on these goodbye gesture claims, given A Bola seem to have seen things during the match that weren’t altogether obvious.
Another Portuguese newspaper, Record, tried their best to find something, but all they could come up with was Lindelof staring into the crowd with his hand used as a shade.
