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Ucheibe and Amani help SL Benfica retain Portuguese Women's League Cup title
The Nigerian and Cape Verdean youngsters were involved as the Eagles defended their domestic crown, beating Sporting CP
Nigeria's Christy Ucheibe and Cape Verde's Jolina Amani starred as SL Benfica retained the Portuguese Women's League Cup, following a 2-1 victory over arch-rivals Sporting CP on Wednesday night.
A 3-0 victory over Sporting Braga in January saw SL Benfica claim their inaugural Portuguese Women's League Cup, launched in 2019.
To achieve reach back-to-back finals, Benfica pipped Famalicao to earn a 3-0 semi-final win, while Sporting edged past last season's finalist Sporting Braga, with a 2-1 semi-final victory.
On Wednesday, coach Filipa Patao handed former Nigeria youth international Ucheibe a starting role for Braga, while Netherlands-born Cape Verdean Amani came off the bench for the Lisbon side.
Since February's final defeat to Sporting Braga, Benfica were eager to avoid back-to-back losses and Cloe Lassara got the Eagles an early lead after just four minutes at Estadio Municipal de Leiria.
After profiting from Sporting's defensive blunder, the holders maintained their high-flying start and soon found another breakthrough when Nycole doubled the lead in the 12 minutes.
Benfica suffered a major setback in the encounter when they were reduced to 10 players following the sending off of Beatriz Cameirao in the 34th minute but they held on to a 2-0 first-half lead.
After the restart, Sporting resumed the contest on a high, leveraging their numerical advantage as Bruna Costa rose high to head in a cross from the left win to pull one back in the 53rd minute.
Despite conceding one, the holders held their nerve, rebuffing attempts from Sporting for the rest of the match to retain the title.
Besides retaining the coveted crown, the Portuguese champions ended their four-match winless run against Sporting since 2019.
Ucheibe featured from the start to finish, while Amani was brought on in the 77th minute, to play their parts in Benfica's triumph.
After the Lisbon team's triumph, Benfica will continue their 2020/21 Portuguese Liga BPI title defence against Torreense on March 21.
