Benfica almost let 4-0 lead slip away against Lyon
After being down 4-0 with just over a quarter of an hour to play, French side Lyon nearly completed a dramatic comeback in the dying moments but fell just short as Benfica took three points in Champions
League Group B with a 4-3 win on Tuesday, 2 November.
The game did not begin well for Benfica who were without Pablo Aimar to start the match after the midfielder picked up an injury during the pre-match warm up. Lyon also came out flying with striker Jimmy
Briand firing the ball into the back of the net twice only to have both strikes called back for offside.
Already on the back foot, Benfica knew they had to turn things around quickly, and they did just that when Alan Kardec headed home a cross from Carlos Martins. Martins had a brilliant game for Benfica
factoring in all four of his team's goals.
It was Martins again who picked out Fabio Coentrao, who volleyed the ball into the back of the net to make it 2-0 after 32 minutes.
Moments before half-time and it looked as if Benfica had put the game out of reach when Javi Garcia took advantage of some poor Lyon defending to connect with another Martins delivery.
The second half began much as the first had ended with Coentrao scoring his second of the match on 67 minutes.
Then began the French comeback sparked by an effort from Yoann Gourcuff. Just over 10 minutes later and substitute Bafetimbi Gomis was able to redirect a corner kick into the back of the net. Well into
injury time Lyon had their third when defender Dejan Lovren capitalized on an error by Benfica's keeper, but the French resistance was too little, too late.
The game was a must win for Benfica, and though they almost let it slip away they did get the three points they needed. With Schalke unable to collect full points from their match with Hapoel Tel-Aviv,
the win puts Benfica just a single point back of the German side who are a further two points behind Lyon, who remain top of the group despite the loss.
Gourcuff commented on his team's poor first-half performance at the end of the game, but also pointed out the team's positive response to being down by four goals, "We had some pressure but didn't manage
to control the match well. They played with a lot of motivation. We were a bit too passive in the first half and didn't make the goalkeeper work.
"It's good that we came back as we did, because at 4-0 it was very hard."
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