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.

 

Benfica suffer devasting injuries in three minutes

Benfica lost a pair of players for the remainder of the season in yesterday's game against Moreirense, where in a span of three minutes both Alexander Bah and Manu Silva went down with knee injuries to their ACL's and were ruled out by the club for the remainder of the season this morning.

The loss of Bah will sting the club much more going forward as the club lacks a seasoned natural right back and will likely turn to Tomas Araujo to cover the position, but his lack of speed against top opponents could prove to be a detriment to the club. 

The club can also turn to Fredrik Aursnes, who played many games last season at the position, or youngster Leandro Santos, but his lack of experience in top flight matches could make him vulnerable.

While Manu just arrived at Benfica a few weeks ago from Guimaraes and appeared in just three games with the club, totaling 136 minutes of action. His loss will be less felt as he barely dipped his toes in the water and Benfica has Florentino and Leandro Barreiro that can slot into the position.

The loss of both players will hurt the squad's depth as they remain alive in every competition remaining from the Liga to the Taca de Portugal to the Champions League.

Benfica plans for Gianluca Prestianni

Benfica turned down plenty of offers for 19 year old Gianluca Prestianni during the winter transfer window, as they settled on working on the Argentinian's development themselves at this stage of his career.

Acquired by Benfica last winter from Velez Sarsfield for €9M, the winger has yet to show the promise that had been expected of him when the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid where linked with acquiring his services before the Lisbon club made the move.

Bruno Lage has yet to use Prestianni since taking over coaching duties from Roger Schmidt in September but has the youngster training with the main squad and available to play in games with the club's B team in which he has appeared in three games to date.

Benfica are counting on Prestianni to develop into a fundamental piece of the squad over the years, which would turn into another cash cow at the cash register if he is to fulfill his potential.