Salzburg 1-3 Benfica
Benfica came into their final Champions League group amid deafening noise surrounding poor performances and dropped points this season, with coach Roger Schmidt and Brazilian striker Artur Cabral the preferred targets for the ire shown by the Lisbon club’s fan base.
There was something poetic, therefore, in the moment when Schmidt turned to Cabral as a late substitute and the Brazilian jumped off the bench to score with a superbly executed back-heel in time added on to give Benfica a 3-1 victory and snatch a Europa League spot away from Salzburg.
Truth be told, it was no more than Benfica deserved after dominating the match and creating chances galore.
Needing to win by a two-goal margin to leapfrog their opponents, Rafa Silva was his usual profligate self for most of the game but scored with an excellent strike, while Ángel Di María put in arguably his best performance since he returned to Benfica, terrorising the Austrian defence all night, scoring the opener direct from a corner and assisting Rafa.
Napoli’s Champions League campaign will continue after beating Braga 2-0 at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
Petit is no longer coach of Boavista. News broke that Petit was resigning yesterday, but the decision reached through mutual agreement between manager and club was made official this afternoon.
FC Porto have gone level on points with first-placed Sporting after the latter lost for the second time in the Primeira Liga, this season, being bested by Vitoria to the tune of a 3-2 defeat.
Benfica 1-1 Farense