With three minutes remaining of the 90, Benfica were drawing 1-1 with Gil Vicente at Estádio da Luz despite dominating possession and a growing avalanche of attacking football.
Gil Vicente finally buckled. A Vangelis Pavlidis penalty and the now regulation golaço by the red-hot Gianluca Prestianni resulted in a 3-1 victory for Benfica.
The strong finish made up for a lukewarm first half by the hosts. Héctor Hernández gave Gil a shock lead in the 7th minute, with the Liga Portugal’s top scorer Pavlidis equalising on 29 minutes.
It was Benfica’s seventh successive victory and Marco Silva’s team will prepare for two tough away matches in the coming week with confidence sky high. The Eagles take on AC Milan in Italy on Wednesday in the Europa League before heading north for the Clássico against Porto next Sunday.
