Benfica - F.C. Copenhagen 3-1 (3-0)

The lights went out for Copenhagen on The Stadium of Light in Lisboa! However, Copenhagen managed to win the second half and reduce the damage Benfica created in the first 45 minutes by tearing apart the Danish defence and scoring three times. But when Manchester United lost to Celtic after missing a penalty in injury time, the night ended with the worst possible scenario as advancement from the group now is impossible.

The first 14 minutes went rather peacefully, when a well-organized and disciplined Copenhagen-team kept Benfica at a pleasant distance and Jesper Grønkjær and Marcus Allbäck even created a good chance for Atiba Hutchinson, but he didn’t hit the ball properly.

But on the following attack the home team struck clinically, when Lars Jacobsen and Hjalte Nørregaard let Simao through to the goal line in the left side, and with the help of Katsouranis the ball was laid back to left back Leo, who found the back of the net. With a bit of luck the shot would have been blocked by the defence, and Jesper Christiansen also got his hand to it, but not enough to prevent the goal.

If one thought this was the worst possible start, then they soon had to revise their thoughts… within two minutes the bad dreams turned to nightmare! Near the midline Simao simply stole the ball away from Linderoth and 8 seconds later it was 2-0 after a dazzling counter-attack, which caught the defence completely off guard. Simao sent Katsouranis sprinting down the right side, he crossed to Nuno Gomes, who passed it on to Miccoli, and he found the space between Christiansen and his left post.

The following ten minutes Copenhagen-team tried to get their act together, but it was obvious that they were deeply shattered by the two quick goals. And Benfica soon took advantage of the situation and produced a number of good chances, which easily could have resulted in the third and fourth goal. Jesper Grønkjær was the only one, who had the energy and courage to challenge the not-too-convincing Portuguese defence, and he was the man behind a couple of offensive actions, which gave the Copenhagen fans some glimpse of hope.

But in the 37th minute the light in their eyes faded again, when Jesper Christiansen couldn’t hold on to a Nuno Gomes-shot from the distance and Miccoli easily tapped the rebound into the net.

Now it was only a matter of damage control, and after the break the revised strategy was actually realized quite well. Copenhagen even managed to put Benfica under some kind of pressure and almost kept them away from chances, even though Jesper Christiansen had to pull of a world class-save, when Simao was completely through with 20 minutes to go.

Earlier Michael Gravgaard had produced a fine header following a corner, Linderoth had sent a free kick just wide, and Fredrik Berglund – who came on during the second half – had also tested Quim a couple of times. And in the dying minutes, the guests were rewarded with a consolation goal from Marcus Allbäck following a cross from Martin Bergvold.

Almost at the same time, Manchester United was awarded a penalty in Glasgow and the chance to equalize the lead, Celtic had gotten with only 8 minutes to go. But Alex Ferguson couldn’t hold his promise to help Copenhagen, as Louis Saha missed from the spot – a draw would have given Copenhagen the opportunity to snatch the third place in the group by beating Celtic in the last round. Instead, Celtic is ready for the round of 16, and United and Benfica will decide who will follow them and who will go to the UEFA Cup.

After the game head coach Ståle Solbakken was annoyed with the defensive lacks that lead to the two quick goals, which practically settled the game:

- We got off to a good start, but then we were severely punished for our mistakes. It's difficult in these away games, not only for us - Manchester United has just scored once in three games and lost twice. Of course it's difficult being two goals down after a quarter, but we didn't have enough running capacity today. Except Jesper Grønkjær, who has been sidelined for almost two months, when the others played twice a week. Maybe the tough program is coming back at us now.

Matchfacts:
SL Benfica-F.C. Copenhagen 3-1 (3-0)
14.: 1-0 Léo
16.: 2-0 Fabrizio Miccoli
37.: 3-0 Fabrizio Miccoli
89.: 3-1 Marcus Allbäck
Attendance: 47.500

F.C. Copenhagen: Jesper Christiansen – Lars Jacobsen, Brede Hangeland, Michael Gravgaard, Oscar Wendt (80.: Martin Bergvold) – Michael Silberbauer (59.: William Kvist), Tobias Linderoth, Hjalte Nørregaard (59.: Fredrik Berglund), Atiba Hutchinson – Jesper Grønkjær, Marcus Allbäck (Un-used substitutes: Dan Thomassen, Jeppe Brandrup, Nikolaj Hansen, Benny Gall)

Bookings: Tobias Linderoth, Michael Silberbauer and Oscar Wendt