Basic stone laid: Benfica before moving into the play-offs - Jorge Jesus

At Benfica Lisbon, coach Jorge Jesus brought the actors Seferovic and Weigl well-known from the Bundesliga from the beginning, also newcomer Joao Mario found a place in the first eleven. The Russians around Coach Pinho Vitoria have been in regular playing for about two weeks and had the advantage of something on their side.

In the first leg of the last qualifying round in front of the play-offs, both teams set out like the fire department, pizzi (6.) and Diogo Gonzalves (10th) at Benfica and Larsson (8.) at Spartak, however, awarded the best options. After that, it was a little quieter in front of the two goals, but in midfield, however, it was mostly intense.

Rafa brings Benfica in front - harmless Russians

Even after the break, Benfica was the slightly more grippy team and finally moving the light dominance into a goal around: Rafa played a dreamlike double pass with Joao Mario in the narrowest room and then compeded the ball under the lath (50th). That was a real impact train for the Russians, who then no longer found their way forward at all.

Instead, the Portuguese remained there, Goncalo Ramos, but initially awarded (70th). A little later, Gilberto made it better and made a short distance to 2: 0 for Benfica (74th). That was the final point, because Spartak did not bring a single scorer in the second round and went to leave the lawn deservedly as loser. The task next Tuesday (21 clock) in the Estadio da Luz is thus tremendous for the Russians.

In the play-off duel, Götze & Co.

Since the Tags previously the PSV Eindhoven could win their qualifications against the Danish representative FC Midtjylland clearly with 3: 0, suggests an exciting play-offs duel: If Benfica and Eindhoven also do their homework in the second leg, they would be in the Last round for the move to the Champions League meet.