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Ucheibe and Amani help SL Benfica win maiden Portuguese Women's League Cup
The Nigerian and Cape Verdean youngsters have helped the Eagles claim the first Portuguese title in 2020 on Wednesday night
Nigeria's Christy Ucheibe and Cape Verde's Jolina Amani made history, winning the first-ever Portuguese Women's League Cup with SL Benfica after their 3-0 victory over Sporting Braga.
The Portuguese League Cup, launched in January 2019, saw SL Benfica and Braga progress to the final after finishing the first phase of the round-robin format in first and second, respectively.
Before the final at the Aveiro Municipal Stadium, the two sides had clashed in the group phase, with the Lisbon side claiming a 3-1 win.
Coach Miguel Santos handed South Africa's Jermaine Seoposenwe, who arrived from Real Betis last July, a starting role for Braga, while Ucheibe and Amani came on from the bench for the Lisbon side.
The Eagles made a promising start to the clash in Aveiro but could not find a breakthrough until Cloe Lacasse broke the resilence of Braga when she struck one minute before the half-time break.
Braga, however, resumed the contest on a high but saw their possible equaliser netted by Cindy Konig cancelled by the VAR a few moments into the second half.
Following Braga's setback, Filipa Patao's team, however, regained dominance in the match and eventually doubled their lead through Ana Vitoria, who scored with a powerful shot in the 64th minute.
The Portuguese champions went on to compound the woes of Santos' ladies when they were gifted a penalty and Nicole converted from the spot in the 73rd minute to seal the historic triumph.
The result means SL Benfica are the first-ever winners of the Women's League Cup and further confirmed their 2020 title triumph following the coronavirus cancellation of the 2019-20 season.
Seoposenwe featured for 84 minutes of the encounter before making way for Ana Teles but could not help Braga to avoid the Cup defeat.
Ucheibe and Amani replaced Vitoria and Lacasse in the 87th and 92nd minutes, respectively, to play their parts in Benfica's triumph.
After the Lisbon team's historic feat, they will meet Sporting Braga again in the 2020/21 Portuguese Women's Cup final next Wednesday.
