PAOK gutted with horror show, Benfica delighted after tough victory
PAOK gutted with horror show, Benfica delighted after tough victory
At a packed Toumba Stadium, PAOK fell short against Benfica in the UEFA Champions League playoffs, in turn leaving the hosts gutted and the visitors overjoyed.
After drawing 1:1 in Portugal, the Dikefalos tou Vorra had the away goal advantage for the second leg in Thessaloniki, but they endured an absolute nightmare. Aleksandar Prijovic initially gifted PAOK the lead with a well-worked goal, but the Greeks then contrived to concede three ridiculously cheap markers in the first half with Jardel, Eduardo Salvio (penalty) and Pizzi gleefully hitting the target. Early in the second, Salvio netted his second spot kick of the day to make it 1:4, in turn crushing PAOK’s Champions League dreams and sending the Portuguese through with a 5:2 aggregate triumph.
Despite missing a glorious opportunity to make the Champions League group stages, PAOK manager Razvan Lucescu urged his players to be proud of themselves and focus on the UEFA Europa League: “Benfica are a team of a much higher level, they are 10th in the UEFA rankings,” stated Lucescu. “When we were ahead 1:0, they managed to keep their composure, but the mistakes which we made gave them the confidence to win the match. Yes, Benfica are stronger than us, but they players must be proud because they gave everything against more experienced teams.
In open play, Benfica barely created any opportunities, but they still managed to score four goals. The psychological factor played its part after their second goal. Will there be any more transfers? No. Unlike AEK, we faced very strong teams, but now we must focus on the Europa League and domestic competitions.”
Benfica boss Rui Vitoria was pleased with how his players reacted to going behind in Thessaloniki: “Before the match, we touched upon how to play if we go behind, the players showed their self-confidence,” beamed Vitoria. “We should have won in Lisbon too, but we played against a strong opponent which hadn’t lost since 2017.
Today, the team played fantastically in such a hot atmosphere. I want to wish PAOK good luck in the Europa League and in Greek tournaments.”
German-Greek goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos, who made a number of superb stops at the Toumba Stadium, acknowledged that PAOK made Benfica’s life difficult: “We really wanted to win, but PAOK gave us a stern test and a real challenge. In the first 10-15 minutes, PAOK were the better team, however we found our rhythm and got back on level terms. Everyone in this team believed that we could win. Congratulations to our players, this was a tough month with matches every three days.”
PAOK captain Vieirinha was frustrated with the mistakes which the team made: “We lost because of our own mistakes, this is the aspect which is really difficult to accept,” said a devastated Vieirinha. “We understood Benfica’s potential but we were punished for our errors. The Portuguese team were very effective with their chances in front of goal. PAOK wanted to create history, but it didn’t happen. We need to lift our heads off the ground and move on to different targets.”
by Shaun Nicolaides
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