Nicolás Otamendi headed in the equalizer in the 84th minute to deliver Benfica a 2-2 draw against Boca Juniors in the teams’ opening match of the Club World Cup that featured three red cards Monday in Miami Gardens, Florida.
Otamendi’s goal, a direct strike off Orkun Kökçü‘s corner kick, came with each side was down a man. Boca Juniors, who squandered a 2-0 lead despite being cheered on by massive fan support at Hard Rock Stadium, finished the match with 10 men after Jorge Figal’s red card in the 88th.
Benfica and Boca, representing Portugal and Argentina, respectively, earned one point apiece to begin Group C play. Bayern Munich previously opened Group C with a 10-0 thrashing of Auckland City.
The scoring began in the 21st minute when Boca’s Lautaro Blanco nutmegged his defender and sent in a cross for Miguel Merentiel, who tapped the ball to the far corner past Benfica goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin.
Rodrigo Battaglia doubled the advantage in the 27th. Kevin Zenon took a corner kick and Ayrton Costa headed a pass right to Battaglia for a close-range header goal.
Benfica got on the board during first-half stoppage time when Carlos Palacios’ contact with Otamendi was deemed a foul after VAR. Boca’s Ander Herrera, who subbed out in the 20th minute due to injury, drew a red card for arguing the call from the bench.
Ángel Di María fired his shot from the spot into the bottom-left corner as Agustin Marchesin dove the wrong way.
Andrea Belotti was shown red for Benfica in the 72nd minute as he kicked Costa in the head when going up for a ball. It was the first red card of the 31-year-old Belotti’s career.
Boca play Bayern on Friday, June 20, while Benfica face Auckland City earlier in the day.
Information from Field Level Media was used in this recap.
