Benfica Hold off Monaco in Six-goal
Thriller

Lisbon, 19 Feb (ONA) — A below-par
Benfica held off a spirited comeback from Monaco in a thrilling draw in Lisbon
to seal their place in the UEFA Champions League last 16.

Vangelis Pavlidis’ superb goal in
Monaco last week gave the Portuguese side a 1-0 lead in the play-off first leg,
but it was the Ligue 1 side who were superior at the Estadio da Luz.

Monaco’s appeals for an early
penalty were denied before Krepin Diatta forced Benfica goalkeeper Anatoliy
Trubin into a superb save.

Despite their slack start, the hosts
were gifted a 22nd-minute opener, BBC sports reported.

Monaco defender Wilfried Singo
slipped under pressure and presented the ball to the in-form Pavlidis, who
fired across the face of goal for Kerem Aktürkoglu to convert on the slide.

To Monaco’s credit, they bounced
back and almost equalised when Breel Embolo’s header bounced off the post and
rolled across the face of goal.

Less than a minute later, they got
the goal they deserved as former Liverpool attacker Takumi Minamino squeezed a
shot inside Trubin’s near post.

Monaco should have levelled the tie
at 2-2 in first-half injury-time, but Embolo spooned his effort over after
Maghnes Akliouche put him through.

The second half began with Eliesse
ben Seghir forcing Trubin into another fine save, but minutes later the
Ukrainian goalkeeper could only watch as the Moroccan curled a strike into the
bottom corner.

Yet just like earlier, Monaco handed
Benfica another chance to retake the lead. Captain Thilo Kehrer kicked the back
of Fredrik Aursnes’ leg and Pavlidis converted the resulting penalty for his
seventh goal of the campaign.

Monaco made it 3-2 on the night with
nine minutes left through substitute George Ilenikhena, but three minutes later
Orkun Kokcu flicked Alvaro Fernandez’s pin-point cross past visiting goalkeeper
Radoslaw Majecki to level and secure a remarkable 4-3 aggregate win.

Benfica will face either Barcelona
or Liverpool in the last 16.

— Ends/Khalid