◤UEFA Champions League◢ Vangelis Pavlidis chipped over the goalkeeper and scored as Benfica beats 10-men Monaco with a 0-1 away win..

Benfica defeated 10-men Monaco with a 0-1 away win in the first leg of the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League Round of 16s knockout phase play-off at the Stade Louis II on Wednesday, grabbing a good advantage in their hopes for advancing to the next phase.

In the first half, Carreras' and Akliouche's shots were both saved. In the second half, Pavlidis scored from a difficult angle, and Al-Musrati was sent off for protesting appropriately, which caused quite a bit of controversy. Afterwards, Pavlidis' and Kökçü's shots as well as Silva's header were also saved. In the end, Benfica defeat 10-men Monaco 0-1 amid controversial boos ringing around the stadium.

First Half

In the 5th minute, Benfica made a quick counterattack. Álvaro Carreras intercepted, got the ball and dribbled to the edge of the penalty area before taking a long shot with his left foot, but his shot went just slightly wide of the right side of the post.

4 minutes later, Aleksandr Golovin passes horizontally from the front, Maghnes Akliouche quickly followed up, got the ball, dribbled into the left side of the box before volleying with his left foot, but his shot was saved and went out of the bottom right corner of the post by Anatoliiy Trubin.

In the 44th minute, Vangelis Pavlidis passes horizontally from the right side of the box, Carreras quickly followed up, stopped the ball, adjusted his angle before with volleying his right foot at the center of the box, but the his shot was saved by Radoslaw Majecki.

At the end of the first half, Monaco and Benfica temporarily drew 0-0 and entered the half-time break.

Second Half

Both teams switched sides as the match continued. In the 48th minute, Tomás Araújo made a through pass from the right wing. After beating the trap offside trap and quickly following up, Vangelis Pavlidis got the ball, dribbled into the edge of the right side of the box, then chipped the ball past the outrushing Majecki into the bottom left corner of the empty net with his right foot from a difficult angle. Benfica broke the deadlock first to take a 0-1 lead! This was the Greek international striker's 8th goal in his last 5 games!

4 minutes later, when Breel Embolo was dribbling with the ball in his own back half, he was hugged and thrown to the ground by Carreras who was pressing closely. Al-Musrati appropriately protested and asked the referee to issue a yellow card or a red card to send Carreras off. Unexpectedly, after issuing a yellow card to the latter, the referee immediately issued a red card to Al-Musrati for excessive protest. Monaco was forced to finish the game with 10-men! However, this controversial decision also caused the game to be interrupted abrutply due to protests from Monaco players and fans!

In the 62nd minute, Andreas Schjelderup passes horizontally from the left side of the box, Pavlidis quickly followed up and upon receiving the pass, pushed the ball with his right foot from a very close distance in the box, but his shot was blocked by Majecki.

In the 75th minute, Leandro Barreiro passes horizontally from the right, Orkun Kökçü quickly followed up, got the ball and took a few steps before taking a long shot with his left foot from the edge of the penalty area, but his shot was saved by Majecki.

In the 87th minute, Benfica got a corner kick opportunity, Kerem Aktürkoğlu took the corner by crossing it into the box. António Silva rose high and attempted with a header in the box, however his effort was saved by Majecki.

When the final whistle is blown, Benfica defeated 10-men Monaco 0-1 in a very controversial way.