Benfica take first leg playoff over Monaco

Benfica took an important first step towards the Champions League round of 16 with a first leg 1-0 playoff win over Monaco. Benfica got their only goal from in form striker Vangelis Pavlidis early in the second half, his 6th of the campaign and missed a couple of glorious chances to make it a more comfortable victory on the road against the Ligue 1 side.

Benfica will now host Monaco next Tuesday in a contest that could still go either way, but hope to play at the same level of today. A game that saw the Eagles take a total of 23 shot attempts on goal. Benfica will hope that they do not regret not scoring another goal or two after Monaco went down a man for the last 38 minutes of the contest.

It was not all joy and happiness for the squad who saw another two players go down with injury, the first being Tomas Araujo at the 67th minute mark and the other Angel di Maria at the 86th minute mark. Di Maria only spent 19 minutes in the game after coming on as a substitute in the second half.

Benfica will travel this weekend to the Azores for a weekend game and may dress a more unfamiliar lineup with youngsters Joao Rego, Leandro Santos and Nuno Felix all with a chance to get some game time as the club looks to rest some key squad players before the second leg.