Turin again!

A great European night! Benfica beat Juventus by 0-2 on matchday 8 of the Champions League league phase, that took place this Wednesday, January 29, at the Juventus Stadium. The Eagles are through to the play-off in the knockout stage of the competition, and will meet either Brest or Monaco. The draw will take place at 11 am (continental time) on Friday, January 31.

The Benfica way! In Italy, another page in the history of the Glorioso was written. After 2014 (0-0, in the second leg of the Europa League semi-finals and qualification for the final) and 2022 (1-2, in the second leg of Group H of the Champions League), the Reds produced another display and result to remember at Juventus. It's safe to say: Turin again!

For the game against the Italian side, Bruno Lage made four changes from the match against Casa Pia. Tomás Araújo (playing his 50th game for the first team), Aursnes, Schjelderup and Pavlidis started, along with Trubin, António Silva, Otamendi, Bah, Florentino, Kökcü and Di María, all repeats from the match against Casa Pia. Álvaro Carreras (injured), Barreiro, Aktürkoğlu and Arthur Cabral (injured) were left out of the eleven. 

The Eagles got off to a good start and soon opened the scoring. A great pass from Aursnes to Bah, who, just inside the box, with only Perin in front of him, flicked it on to Pavlidis, who only had to put it in the back of the net (0-1, 16'), his 5th goal in this edition of the Champions League.

At half-time (0-1), Pavlidis' goal gave the Reds the lead and put them in an excellent position to secure qualification for the Champions League play-off.

In the 80th minute, Kökcü hit the target, finishing off one of the most beautiful and well-worked plays of the match, in which Benfica had the ball in their possession for 1 minute and 14 seconds. Near the midfield circle, Pavlidis received from António Silva and passed to Aursnes, who played a heel pass to Barreiro. The number 18 advanced a few meters on the right side of the attack and passed to Pavlidis, who, with a vertical pass, put the ball into the number 10, with the help of Aktürkoğlu, who, with a dummy, left Gatti out of the play. Kökcü received the ball and shot from the edge of the area. It was the Turkish international's 3rd goal in this edition of the Champions League.

Either Brest or Monaco will be the Eagles' opponents, with the draw taking place this Friday, January 31, at 11 am continental time.

On Sunday, February 2, Glorioso travel to Amadora to play Estrela on Matchday 20 of the Liga Betclic. The match is scheduled for 8:30 pm.