Benfica down http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/VfB-Stuttgart-c40879 in first leg of Europa League
Benfica beat VFB Stuttgart 2-1 in the first leg of the last 32 round of theUEFA Europa League at the Estadio da Luz on Thursday night. A goal each from http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Martin-Harnik-c24374 scored a crucial away goal
for the visitors despite the defeat.
Stuttgart advanced to the knock out round after finishing top in Group H, while Benfica qualified after exiting UEFA Champion’s League, placed third in the group stage. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Jorge-c19120 Jesus played a 4-1-3-2 formation with Cardozo and Jara playing upfront. Javier
Saviola missed the game due to suspension while Rubin Amorim had a knee injury. Bruno Labbadia played a 4-4-2 formation, with http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Shinji-Okazaki-c33366 starting upfront for the visitors.
The visitors started the game in an attacking fashion and they ended up with a major share of possession in the opening ten minutes. The first real chance of the game came when Stuttgart’s Harnik sent a beautiful pass to Okazaki in the box but the Japanese
international played it straight in to the hands of Jimenez Roberto. Soon after, the hosts were rewarded for their brilliant attacking play when Tamas Hajnal played the ball inside the box which was finished on the first touch by Harnik to make it 1-0 for
the visitors. Benfica struggled to create chances from open play and they came closest when they were denied a penalty shot inside the Stuttgart box. The visitors created a lot of chances but couldn’t apply the finishing touch as they went into the break as
better of the two sides.
The hosts looked like a completely different side at the start of the second half. They controlled possession and territory a lot better than in the first half. Soon after the break, they had two wonderful chances to equalise. In the 51st minute,
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Sven-Ulreich-c34389. In the next minute, Jara tried his luck from just outside the penalty area but his shot missed the target by a couple of inches.
The hosts continued their domination as the visitors hoped to hang onto the lead. Benfica did get the equalizer in the 69th minute, when http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Pablo-Aimar-c28938 played a fantastic through ball to Cardozo, who finished it past Ulreich to make it 1-1. Benfica
scored another ten minutes later as http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Franco-Jara-c14063 unleashed a strike from 35 yards and it went like a rocket into the net. Ulreich had no chance of stopping it. The goal highlighted Benfica’s performance in the second half. The hosts defended their lead as they
marched onto win 2-1.
The second leg of the tie will be played at Mercedes-Benz Arena Stuttgart on 24th February.
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