Benfica defeat Marseille for first leg lead

Benfica will head to France to face Marseille in the second leg of their Europa League quarter-final encounter with one foot in the competition's semi-final round after a 2-1 victory over the French club, but they will be disappointed with conceding a goal to the French club when they were in full control of the game in the the first hour of play.

A pair of goals from Rafa Silva and Angel di Maria had the home side up 2-0 early in the second half before Aubameyang cut the lead in half at the 67th mark. Benfica striker Casper Tengstedt will rue a couple of missed opportunities that could have put this two leg contest out of reach, but hence is the game of football.

Roger Schmidt continues to struggle to make adjustments to his tactics after the opposition makes some tweaks to their style of play during the game and his lack of substitution usage of late is definitely a head scratcher especially when players look exhausted on the field. Here is hoping the club can go into France and play like they did the first hour of this contest and not the last thirty minutes.