BENFICA TOO GOOD FOR TOFFEES AGAIN

EVERTON were undone by Benfica again as the Portuguese side followed up their 5-0 win in Lisbon with a 2-0 triumph on Merseyside.

In front of the watching Eusebio, the visitors turned on the style in the second half to clinch victory through Javier Saviola and Oscar Cardozo, who scored doubles in the corresponding fixture.

"Benfica broke quickly and the goals were not like the ones in the first game," explained Toffees boss David Moyes. "It was a tighter match this time.

"They were not beautiful goals but poor from a defensive point of view. We became a little bit open in the second half as we tried to score.

"We lacked a bit of quality going forward and that did not help us but Benfica are a good side."

"There are some tough games coming up but we never thought the group would be easy.

"This is a long competition with lots of teams in it and others coming in later."

Yakubu Aiyegbeni and Tim Cahill had first-half chances but benfica came closest to scoring in the opening period when Ramires headed against a post and Tim Howard made a stunning save to keep out Saviola's rebound.

Highly-rated winger Angel Di Maria did little to impress the watching Sir Alex Ferguson in the stands when he hoisted a shot wastefully off target when clean through but he did force one fingertip stop out of Howard.

A goal finally arrived on 63 minutes when Di Maria helped set up Saviola to supply a clinical piece of finishing past the exposed Howard.

Cardozo's volley punished Tony Hibbert for some slack marking to make the points safe and Sylvain Distin was denied a late consolation by Julio Cesar in the Benfica goal.

This article has 1 comment