Benfica’s Nico Gaitan, right, scores his side’s first goal during their Champions League League Round of 16 second leg soccer match between Zenit and Benfica at Petrovsky stadium in St.Petersburg, Russia
A fortunate ricochet off the bar and Nicolas Gaitan’s follow-up header helped to send Benfica into the quarterfinals of the Champions League yesterday [Macau time] with a 2-1 win over Zenit St. Petersburg.
Going into the second leg game 1-0 down against an injury-depleted Benfica, Zenit laid siege to Benfica’s goal in the second half of the Round of 16 match. The home side was rewarded for its efforts in the 69th minute when Yuri Zhirkov found space on the left flank to cross for Hulk to head home.
Benfica was angered by the goal, arguing that a free-kick should have been awarded in the build-up when Zhirkov bodychecked Nelson Semedo to win the ball.
But the Portuguese club scored a crucial goal in the 85th minute when Raul Jimenez’s curled volley was tipped onto the bar by goalkeeper Yuri Lodygin and fell perfectly for Gaitan’s header.
Benfica made it 3-1 on aggregate with the last kick of the game when Talisca hit a half-volley from inside the box in the 96th.
“I was expecting us to win today,” Benfica coach Rui Vitoria said. “We played very well, it’s a well-deserved victory for us.”
The win followed a last-minute victory for Benfica in the first leg in Lisbon, where Jonas scored the only goal in the 92nd-minute. It was also a repeat of a two-leg win over Zenit at the same stage of the competition four years ago.
Zenit coach Andre Villas-Boas was morose in defeat.
“It’s a pity for a team that pushed so well and created some great chances that we end up losing this game and the tie,” he said. “I think it was a bit unfair what happened in today’s game … It was not our day.”
Zenit could have scored more were it not for a brave performance by Benfica goalkeeper Ederson.
Ederson put his body on the line to close down first Igor Smolnikov, who collided with the keeper and left him needing treatment in the 60th, and then later Artem Dzyuba, who hesitated a little too long after storming through the defense in the 81st, allowing the keeper to make the stop.
The Russian club’s record of never having reached the Champions League quarterfinals continues.
While Zenit keeper Lodygin’s spectacular one-handed stop of Jimenez’s shot backfired when the ball came back off the bar, he had pulled off a similar save in the 72nd with an acrobatic, one-handed dive to stop a looping header from Victor Lindelof that was destined for the top corner.
In the other match of the night, Zlatan Ibrahimovic demonstrated his enduring attacking threat by steering Paris Saint-Germain into the Champions League quarterfinals with a goal and an assist in a 2-1 victory at Chelsea.
By replicating the first-leg triumph in the French capital last month, PSG eliminated Chelsea for the second successive season in the round of 16 but it is far more damaging for the London club this time.
Languishing in 10th place in the Premier League after a feeble title defense, Chelsea will almost certainly be out of the Champions League next season for the first time since Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich bought the club in 2003.
Although Chelsea conceded in the 16th minute when Ibrahimovic’s cross was turned in by Adrien Rabiot, Diego Costa leveled 11 minutes later on his return from injury.
But Costa was forced off on the hour and Chelsea’s hopes were deflated.
Ibrahimovic tapped in his 50th Champions League goal seven minutes later after being set up by Angel Di Maria on a sparkling night for the winger. MDT/AP
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