March 16, (THEWILL) – Benfica advanced to the Champions League quarter-finals with a 1-0 win over Ajax, securing a 3-2 aggregate victory in the last-16 tie after Darwin Nunez scored a late winner.
The match had been finely poised after a 2-2 draw in the first leg in Lisbon, and Erik ten Hag’s home side dominated from the start at the Johan Cruijff Arena on Tuesday. Benfica, on the other hand, struck forcefully in the 77th minute, when Nunez scored the Portuguese visitors’ first goal, sending Nelson Verissimo’s side through.
Ajax dominated the first half, with Sebastien Haller scoring after only seven minutes, but the celebrations were cut short by a late offside flag against Dusan Tadic.
Ten Hag’s players continued to be dominating but without reward before the break, with Antony testing Odisseas Vlachodimos from range and Ryan Gravenberch seeing a fizzing shot turned over.
Ajax continued where they left off after the break, with Tadic skewed off target, before an unmarked Jan Vertonghen gave the hosts a scare after squandering a good opportunity.
Antony came close to breaking the deadlock, but his header went just wide of the top-left corner, and Ajax’s failure to convert proved costly with 13 minutes remaining.
Nunez towered over goalkeeper Andre Onana to meet Alex Grimaldo’s inswinging free-kick from the right flank, clinically heading it into the left corner and snatching the victory for Benfica. There was nothing Ajax could do to change the outcome before the final whistle.
Benfica will now wait to see who their opponents will be in the last-eight draw on Friday, with the two-leg matches scheduled for early April.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
