PortuGOAL Figure of the Week: Vítor Campelos’ Chaves charges stun below-par Benfica | OneFootball

The 28th round of the Liga Bwin season had a tense feel to it as teams in all parts of the table began to feel the pressure of the advancing weeks of the run-in. Marítimo and Portimonense gave survival bids a boost with victories against rivals in this respect Paços de Ferreira and Estoril respectively.

Famalicão and Vizela maintained impressive form, while Arouca’s continued heroics foiled Sporting on this occasion, the Lions’ hopes of Champions League football next year fading fast with Braga taking advantage in the top three race.

The title race looked done and dusted a few weeks ago but previously impregnable table-toppers Benfica are seriously on the wane, their leadership taking another big hit with a shock defeat to an improving Chaves. Their manager and PortuGOAL Figure of the Week Vítor Campelos’ risky approach paid off with a last-gasp winning goal.

In charge of Chaves for a little over two years now, 47 year old Vítor Campelos has done a sterling job in charge of Os Flavienses, leading the team to promotion from the second tier of Portuguese football in his first full season in charge. At the back end of the 2021/22 season, Campelos led his team to playoff success over the coach’s former side Moreirense to reach Primeira Liga for the first time since 2019.

Campelos’ aforementioned stint at Moreirense was his only prior experience of top level management, and it was quite a brief one so questions hung over the Portuguese in terms of his credentials for Chaves’ return to the big time. However, what has unfolded this season has been a serene comeback for the Northerners, with permanence in the division for the next campaign all but assured.

Striking the balance in playing personnel for a jump up in divisions is always amongst a manager’s most precarious tasks and Campelos has seemed to find a happy medium of keeping faith with the squad that got them to this stage whilst adding in a blend of experienced but also promising new faces to freshen up the feeling at the club. Fortunately for the boss, several campaigners well-versed in Primeira Liga football were already installed at Chaves, particularly in defence whereby the likes of Steven Vitória, Nélson Monte and Carlos Ponck have helped to form an effective bedrock to build upon. Elsewhere, newcomers Héctor Hernández and Issah Abass have brought dynamism to the attack.

A somewhat pragmatic approach to the campaign from Campelos has meant a slightly more cautious nature to their style of play. Their record of nine wins, nine draws and ten defeats hints towards an almost running average output to their season, but Chaves have been all the stronger for it in a division that can cause quite erratic swings when it comes to on-pitch fortunes.

Some recent positive form for Campelos’ side has seen the idea of staying clear from the relegation battle for the remainder of the campaign a near certainty, vital victories over potential combatants in this arena Estoril and Portimonense providing a relieving safety barrier ahead of Saturday afternoon’s home contest with league leaders Benfica, who while in a bad cycle of form themselves still represented stern opposition in which anything above avoiding defeat for Chaves would amount to a fine achievement.

Chaves and Campelos had quite a clear plan for the encounter in the opening stages of the match, soaking up plenty of Benfica pressure and looking to hit the Eagles on the counter attack, and approach that would ultimately bear fruit in a devastatingly dramatic fashion, particularly as far as their title-chasing opponents were concerned.

Campelos’ tactics were in their own way high risk but with the potential for high rewards, and this was very well demonstrated in the space of four minutes early in the second half. The hosts survived by the skin of their teeth as Benfica somehow failed to open the scoring as Chaves continued to invite pressure, only last ditch heroics firstly from left back Bruno Langa and then goalkeeper Paulo Vítor both denying João Mário in quick succession. Just minutes later though it should have been the hosts to break the deadlock as Benfica were hit on the counter, Brazilian striker Juninho racing clear of the flailing defence, but Odysseas Vlachodimos pulled off a fine stop in the resulting one against one.

You wondered if Chaves would rue the miss as Benfica continued to apply the pressure, but in stoppage time the home side pounced on a defensive error to steal all three points. An unchallenged Nicolás Otamendi made a mess of Vítor’s goal kick, and Chaves substitute Issah Abbas mercilessly made the Argentine pay, side-footing past Vlachodimos to send the Estádio Municipal faithful wild.

A bitter blow for Benfica, but also a huge moment in Chaves’ season that will surely guarantee their place in 2023/24’s edition of Liga Bwin. Smash and grab it may have been, but it was also vindication on the day for Campelos’ tactical approach.

Campelos’ good work at the helm has reportedly attracted the attention of Hull City in England’s Championship division, so Chaves may face a battle on their hands this summer to retain the services of a manager who really has done excellent work for the club. After arguably the biggest one-off result of his career thus far, the spotlight on the Portuguese could widen further.

@FRfutebolJamie