Benfica travelled to Turin with their position in the knockout rounds, but secured themselves after snatching defeat from the jaws of victory on the 7th of the day, relinquishing a two-goal lead twice as they fell to a 5-4 loss to Barcelona.
Vangelis Pavlidis scored a first-half hat-trick in the nine-goal thriller, and even though he couldn’t concede in the highs in Turin, he still celebrated a very important opening game in the 17th minute at the Allianz Stadium. The Greek striker had the undeniable task of bringing the ball house after being through Alexander Bah.
Things almost got worse for Juventus when they carelessly gave the ball away in the first half, with Mattia Perin needing to make a save to keep Benfica’s sniper at bay.
With Juventus avoiding half-time for the first time in a UCL House game this season, Khephren Thuram attempted to direct the House team’s response, forcing Anatoliy Trubin to dive to his left to muster his motivated efforts.
However, the hosts have followed up that promising momentum with periods of futile ownership that create a stream of cup chances in the clearing, highlighting why they haven’t bothered the scorers in 3 of their last five European outings.
When Trubin was in spite of everything he was forced to return to action, he had to save Nicolas Otamendi from inadvertently putting the ball into his own net from Weston McKennie’s signature cross.
While Juventus did not have a genuine lead, Benfica had no problems, doubling down on their merit in the 81st minute to end the home side’s hopes of recovering a result. The Job Kokcu collected Pavlidis’ pass on the edge of the box, before sweeping a low foot past the extended Perrin.
That strike claimed a third win in 4 Europa Away games, securing Benfica a 16th position and leaving Juventus to settle for 20th position.