Brazilian defender Joao Victor will not be in the Benfica squad for tomorrow evening’s Champions League match against Inter Milan for disciplinary reasons.
This according to today’s print edition of Portuguese newspaper Record, via FCInterNews. The newspaper notes that Benfica coach Roger Schmidt will leave Victor out due to a poor showing in training.
Tomorrow evening, Benfica will face Inter at the San Siro.
The two teams had previously met just a few months ago, in the quarterfinals of the Champions League.
And this time around, the two teams face off in the group stage of the competition.
Neither got off to an ideal start to their group stage campaign.
Inter could only scrape a draw away to Real Sociedad in their opening match. That came courtesy of a Lautaro Martinez equalizer late in the match.
And in truth, it was hardly a result that the Nerazzurri deserved, as it had been the home side in the ascendancy for much of the match.
And for Benfica it was even worse.
Playing at the Estadio da Luz, the Portuguese fell to a 0-2 defeat against Red Bull Salzburg.
Benfica Defender Joao Victor Out Of Inter Milan Clash For Disciplinary Reasons
The opening day result for Benfica was already a significant problem for coach Roger Schmidt.
The Lisbon giants have a mountain to climb getting back into contention to qualify for the knockout rounds.
And the loss was even more of a disaster considering that defender Antonio Silva was sent off in that match.
That means that the 19-year-old will be out of tomorrow’s match with a suspension.
Veteran former Manchester City and Valencia defender Nicolas Otamendi should be at the heart of the defense.
But Schmidt will have a bit of a conundrum as far as who starts alongside him.
Victor will not be the player alongside the Argentine, however.
According to Record, Schmidt became fed up after seeing a lack of effort from the 25-year-old Brazilian in training.
