Vangelis Pavlidis has Benfica flying high as Eagles dominate 10-man Monaco in Champions League play-off win

The first half saw end-to-end action with both teams getting their fair share of chances to break the deadlock. In the eighth minute, Monaco star Pavlidis initiated a brilliant counter-attack after intercepting the ball in the centre of the pitch. He linked up with Fredrik Aursnes, but the midfielder's return pass was easily intercepted by Monaco defender Thilo Kehrer. A minute later, Aleksandr Golovin launched a powerful strike on goal which forced Benfica custodian Anatoliy Trubin to go full stretch to parry the ball away.

The visitors finally broke the deadlock three minutes after the break as Pavlidis received a through ball from Tomas Araujo down the right flank. The Greek forward went past his marker inside the Monaco boss before chipping the ball over Radosław Majecki to his side the lead.

Things went from bad to worse for the hosts in the 52nd minute when Moatasem Al-Musrati picked up his second yellow card of the match for dissent after he got into a tangle with Breel Embolo.

Roger Schmidt brought in veteran Argentine winger Angel Di Maria in the 67th minute but the ex-Real Madrid and Manchester United star lasted only 20 minutes on the pitch as he limped off with an injury.

Pavlidis, who has displayed fine form throughout the 202425 campaign, was a live wire in the Benfica attack as he constantly threatened the opposition's backline. He had created a goalscoring opportunity on his own early in the first half but lack of support denied him from breaking the deadlock. The Greek forward, however, found the back of the net within three minutes of the second half which proved to be the winner for the Portuguese side.

Former Southampton defender Mohammed Salisu was in charge of marking Pavlidis when Araujo sent the through ball from the right flank inside the Monaco box. Salisu first failed to intercept the pass and then went down easily following a slight shoulder push from the Benfica forward.

The French side will be back in action on Saturday as they face Nantes in a Ligue 1 clash. On the same day, Benfica take on Santa Clara in the Liga Portugal.