Aston Villa suffered a crushing defeat to Benfica in the decider of the Guadiana Cup.
Carew's effort counts for nothing as Benfica turn on the style
Aston Villa suffered a crushing defeat in the decider of the Guadiana Cup as Benfica condemned the Premier League club to a 4-1 defeat.
Martin O'Neill's side went into the pre-season friendly having defeated Feyenoord on Saturday, but they were humbled by their Portuguese opponents on Sunday.
Villa found themselves three goals down at half-time and second-half substitute John Carew, who had injured his knee in the warm-up, could only net a consolation after the interval and Benfica's fourth.
A goal from David Luis, two from Javier Saviola and one from Oscar Cardozo did the damage as O'Neill's men struggled in Portugal.
Centre-back Luis opened the scoring in the 11th minute with a deflected effort past Villa goalkeeper Brad Friedel.
Saviola added a second in the 37th minute after collecting a knockdown from a Friedel save, before Cardozo blasted a 43rd minute free-kick past the American shot-stopper.
Villa's misery was compounded in the 50th minute when Saviola hit Benfica's fourth from 20 yards to render meaningless Carew's fine individual strike in the 69th minute.
