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Brilliant Benfica oust Napoli

Benfica 2-0 Napoli (agg. 4-3)

Benfica pulled out a spectacular victory, their second in the span of six days, as the Portuguese outfit overturned a 2-3 deficit to claim a 2-0 win over Napoli and advance to the group stages of the Uefa Cup.

Jose Antonio Reyes was the hero once again as his opener was enough to see the Eagles through in the competition, while Nuno Gomes’ strike late in the second half insured that any comeback attempt by the Italians would be stifled.

Reyes appears to be finding his stride since his loan move to the Lisbon club in the summer from Atletico Madrid. It is now two straight matches where the Spaniard has found the back of the net, helping Benfica to two precious victories.

Huge crowd

Another well attended match at the Estadio da Luz as close to 60,000 fans poured into the stadium to see their beloved Benfica try and overtake the ever tricky Italian team from Naples. Still buzzing from their convincing win over Sporting on the weekend, the home supporters were hoping for much of the same on this European football night.

But Napoli had big aspirations and came close as early as the 4th minute as Lavezzi beat his marker and went one-on-one against Quim, but the young Argentine was stymied by the Portugal goalkeeper with a fine stop.

Di Maria responded for the hosts by releasing a screamer from outside the box that just cleared Gianello’s crossbar. Benfica started to settle down and play some attacking football as Sidnei, Reyes and Yebda all had efforts on goal – looking for the goal that would put them level on aggregate.

After soaking up pressure for thirty minutes, Napoli mounted an attack of their own with Lavezzi the catalyst once again. The striker attempted a bicycle kick in the 34th minute that just missed at the far post with Quim rooted to the spot.

Incredible miss

On the stroke of the interval Benfica were given their biggest scare of the night as Cannavaro rattled his effort off the post and Zalayeta somehow failed to convert the rebound while standing in front of goal, sending the ball over the crossbar.

Shortly after the break, Benfica got that elusive first goal as Spanish sensation, Jose Antonio Reyes, took down a Katsouranis ball beautifully with his chest and smashed it past Gianlleo to give Benfica a 1-0 lead.

Di Maria put on a dribbling clinic minutes later as Benfica’s own young Argentine import danced past four Napoli markers, only to run out of steam just before he released a shot on goal.

With Benfica having controlled the tempo of the game, Napoli were running out of ideas as the Portuguese side were boxing out their Italian opponents, not allowing them even half chances.

Stunning move

Benfica’s second goal came directly from the training ground. With a lot more space to manoeuvre, three Portuguese internationals found each other on complete opposite sides of the field as Jorge Ribeiro played a long ball to Carlos Martins, who was alone on the left flank. The midfielder crossed for Nuno Gomes in the box and the team captain made no mistake, heading perfectly into the net to ensure the Eagles continued their campaign in the Uefa Cup.

The Portuguese side will have to wait until next week to see who they will be partnered with in the group stage. As one of the top seeds they will avoid the likes of AC Milan, Sevilla, Valencia, Schalke 04, Hamburg, Tottenham and CSKA Moscow.

Benfica:
Quim, Maxi Pereira, Luisao, Sidnei, Jorge Ribeiro, Ruben Amorim (Carlos Martins, 70), Yebda (Binya, 77), Katsouranis, Reyes, Di Maria (Urretavizcaya, 78), Nuno Gomes
Yellow Cards: Reyes, Di Maria

Napoli:
Gianello, Cannavaro, Rinuado, Contini, Maggio, Blasi, Gargano, Vitale (Mannini, 78), Hamsik (Russotto, 66), Lavezzi (Denis, 71), Zalayeta
Yellow Cards: Cannavaro, Vitale, Contini, Gargano

Goals:
[1-0] Reyes, 57
[2-0] Nuno Gomes, 82