Team forced to play with just NINE players against Benfica due to Covid 😱 | OneFootball

There aren’t many football clubs in the world who haven’t been forced to make do without one or two of their players due to Covid over the last year or so.

But in Portugal on Saturday night, we saw one of the most extreme examples of this yet, when Belenenses SAD took on Primeira Liga leaders Benfica with just nine players available.

Two of those players were goalkeepers, meaning 20-year-old goalie João Monteiro had to play outfield.

And as if their task wasn’t already difficult enough, they fell behind to an own goal from Eduardo Kau after just one minute and by half-time it was already 7-0.

Former Benfica player Bernardo Silva made his feelings clear about the match on Twitter.

“What is this?” wrote the Portuguese international.

“Am I the only one who doesn’t understand why the game hasn’t been postponed?”

No Bernardo, you’re not the only one.

The situation then went from bizarre to farcical when only seven Belenenses players emerged for the second half and when one more went down injured just after the restart, the match was abandoned at 7-0.

It should never have been allowed to kick off in the first place.