Benfica escape France with a draw to advance in Europa League

Benfica have advanced to the round of 16 in the Europa League after a scoreless draw in France against Toulouse. Benfica held off the determined French side in the second half to maintain a clean sheet in their second leg encounter, thanks in part to a star performance by stud keeper Anatoliy Trubin. The draw was enough to move on after a 2-1 home victory just a week ago.

Benfica missed a host of chances in the first half to open the scoring and extend their aggregate lead, but sat back in the second half and it almost proved costly. Overall, it was another poor performance by the club over a full 90 minutes and they will need to bring their game to a different level if they hope to continue to move forward in the competition.

Benfica will find out their opponents tomorrow, with the draw taking place in Nyon, Switzerland. Benfica's potential opponent will be one of West Ham, Bayer Leverkusen, Liverpool, Atalanta, Brighton, Villarreal, Slavia Prague or Rangers. 

In other action involving Portuguese clubs, Sporting will join Benfica in the round of 16 after advancing 4-2 on aggregate over Young Boys. While Braga were eliminated after a second leg victory, in a game that went into additional extra time. Qarabag scored an injury time goal just a couple of minutes before the club's were set to head to penalties, to win the aggregate 6-5.

 

Benfica travel to France looking to advance in Europa League

Benfica get set to travel to France to take on Toulouse in their second leg of the round of 32 Europa League encounter on Thursday as the club arrives in town holding a 2-1 advantage after last week's home victory at the Estadio da Luz.

Benfica are coming off a sparkling performance in league action that saw the club defeat Vizela 6-1, as Roger Schmidt decided to finally rest some of his regular starters with six changes to the starting XI that played last Thursday against Toulouse.

A Benfica victory or draw will move the Eagles into the round of 16 and with the away goal rule removed by UEFA, a one goal loss would see the two clubs go into additional time.

Benfica are hoping that their finishing in this game will mirror their league performance Sunday and not the Thursday performance against the French club, which saw the club fail to capitalize on a host of chances at the Luz. 

The game will kick off at 5:45pm WEST

Angola approach Benfica midfielder Florentino to join nation

Angola's football federation has made an approach towards Benfica midfielder Florentino Luis about playing international football for the African nation that his ancestors are from and turning away from Portugal, a country he has called home since his birth, growing up in Sintra, a district of Lisbon.

Florentino has appeared for Portugal at every youth level since making his first appearance with the nation's under 15 squad and at 24 years old, he still holds the dream of donning the Selecao jersey at the senior level in his heart.

This is not the first approach by Angola towards Florentino, but the answer they have received from the player has always been the same. The gifted defensive midfielder, who first honed his skills playing futsal, joined Benfica's academy in 2010 at the tender age of 10.

Here is hoping that Portugal manager Roberto Martinez recognizes the play of Florentino sooner rather than later in his next round of selections, as the feisty midfielder has deserved a call up for some time now. Angola has already noticed.