Benfica draw not enough to advance in Europa League

Benfica fought tooth and nail but could just not get to the round of 16 in the Europa League with a draw on this disastrous night for Portuguese football. Benfica opened the scoring just nine minutes into the encounter bringing the Estadio da Luz fans to their feet when Pizzi would find the far right corner giving Benfica advantage based on away goals due to their 2-1 defeat to Shakhtar in the first leg. That advantage would last barely three minutes with a Ruben Dias own goal bringing the game level. The central defender would make amends scoring nine minutes before the half to give Benfica the 2-1 lead and having the game set to go into additional extra time if it remained that way. Rafa Silva would then take advantage of a Shakhtar back end error to give Benfica a 3-1 lead just two minutes into the second half and once again the club had the advantage to move into the round of 16 but again Benfica failed to hold this advantage for very long as just four minutes later Shakhtar would bring the game to within one and give the Ukrainian side advantage on away goals. Shakhtar would then tie the game up at 3-3 with a goal at the 71st minute mark which basically ended the hopes of the Lisbon club advancing. Benfica would be eliminated 5-4 on aggregate over two legs in what was a horrible Europa League campaign for Portuguese Football. Benfica would be joined by FC Porto, Sporting and Braga at the exit door as Portugal's clubs all crashed out of the tournament which have many questioning the state of skill and talent currently in the league.