It’s been some week for Portuguese champions Benfica.
On Saturday night the Eagles beat Sporting at Alvalade to take first place in the Liga NOS standings, and Rui Vitória’s men followed that up with another memorable away win, coming from behind to beat Zenit St. Petersburg 2-1 in Russia and complete a 3-1 aggregate win.
The Lisbon giants are into the last eight of the Champions League for the first time since 2011/2012.
The inability score in big games has been just about the only piece of criticism we can throw at Jonas in his time at Benfica, but it was his goal in the 91st minute in the first leg that gave the back-to-back Liga NOS champions a vital 1-0 aggregate lead ahead of their trip to Russia.
It was just as well that the 31-year-old talisman found the back of the net as Benfica had lost both of their last two away games against Zenit St. Petersburg, winning just once in seven visits to Russia in European competitions.
Makeshift defence
Rui Vitória’s task wasn’t facilitated by the ever-growing list of absentees in defence, having to make do without the suspended André Almeida and Jardel to add to the already injured Júlio César, Luisão and Lisandro López. Injury-hit right back Nélson Semedo was drafted back into the Benfica back four, and Ljubomir Fejsa came into midfield to allow Andreas Samaris to partner Victor Lindelöf in the centre of defence.
André Villas Boas had defensive changes of his own to make, as Domenico Criscito’s red card in the first leg at the Estádio da Luz meant ex-Chelsea man Yuri Zhirkov deputised at left back for Zenit. The Russian club had never made it past the round of last 16 in the UEFA Champions League, whereas the last time Benfica did so, they eliminated Zenit with a 4-3 win on aggregate.
Blows traded in cagey first half
Unaccustomed to the sub-zero temperatures, it was perhaps a surprise to see Benfica's engine warm up the quickest as Jonas’ free kick forced an early save from Yuri Lodygin in the 4th minute.
Zenit’s prompt response came from the towering figure of Artyom Dzyuba who dragged his shot wide in the 7th minute, meanwhile Benfica fashioned yet another chance from a quick break but Renato Sanches’ strike from outside the box could only flirt past the far post.
Dzyuba was gifted a second sighting of goal in the 21st minute when an unorthodox sequence of headers played the former Spartak Moscow forward through one-on-one, although he was quickly denied by the on-rushing Ederson.
Zenit rise up
The onus was on Zenit to shake things up in the second half after what had been a fairly bland affair in the first 45 minutes. Villas-Boas’ men failed to kick on as quickly as they’d liked, but in the 60th minute they came close to breaking the deadlock.
Hulk’s left footed cross from the right wing found second half substitute Igor Smolnikov unmarked inside the six-yard-box, but the falling full back could only direct his effort towards goal harmlessly.
No less than a minute later, Zenit were knocking on Benfica’s door again when Oleg Shatov squeezed a ball through to Dyzuba in the area, but the striker’s shot kept on rising as it flew over the crossbar.
Benfica’s luck ran out in the 69th minute, however, as Zhirkov proved to be too strong for Semedo down the left flank and picked out Benfica’s old nemesis Hulk for an easy header from close range.
Benfica bite back
Lindelöf offered Zenit a scare when the young defender’s header required an outstretched Lodygin to keep out a precious Benfica away goal.
The hammer blow from the Águias did eventually come as late as the 84th minute, with Raúl Jímenez’s long range volley out of the blue being tipped onto the bar and pounced on by Nicolás Gaitan to nod into an empty net.
And if the game wasn’t already beyond the reach of the Sine-Belo-Golubye, late substitute Talisca sealed the deal with the last kick of the game and gave Benfica their first quarter-final appearance for four years with a 3-1 aggregate win.
by Patrick Ribeiro
Zenit St. Petersburg: Yuri Lodygin; Aleksandr Anyukov (Igor Smolnikov 58’), Luis Neto, Nicolas Lombaerts, Yuri Zhirkov; Maurício (Artur Yusupov 82’), Axel Witsel; Aleksandr Kokorin (Oleg Shatov 58’), Danny, Hulk; Artyom Dyzuba
Benfica: Ederson; Nélson Semedo, Andreas Samaris, Victor Lindelöf, Eliseu; Pizzi (Eduardo Salvio 73’), Ljubomir Fejsa, Renato Sanches, Nicolás Gaitan; Kostas Mitroglou (Raúl Jiménez 67’), Jonas (Talisca 92’)
Goals:
[1-0] Hulk, 69’
[1-1] Gaitán, 85’
[1-2] Talisca, 94’
