Summary: This week's covers of Sport1 channels (Sport1)
The Benfica Lisbon players waited for a long minute on the grass to understand their situation - and then the news arrived: the Portuguese passed Paris Saint-Germain, and qualified for the round of 16 from first place in Group 8 thanks to the impressive 6:1 over Maccabi Haifa.
Benfica and PSG had the same number of points before the start of the round, the same goal difference and a head-to-head tie (twice 1:1), so what was decisive was the amount of away goals scored by Benfica - and the last added goal was the decisive one.
Roger Schmidt said at the end: "I want to congratulate my players and express my respect and appreciation to them, for what they did today and what they did throughout the group stage. We finished the group stage at a very high level, and we wanted to believe that we could do it today as well. We believed we could finish with more points than Paris Saint-Germain, but both teams won. I feel my players have earned this achievement, it's a great feeling for them."
They finished it in style, and they definitely deserve it.
Banfika (Photo: Maor Alxalsi)
Benfica players celebrate in Haifa the qualification to the round of 16 from first place at home after the 6:1 over Maccabi Haifa (Photo: Reuters)
Petar Musa, who scored one of the goals: "It's an amazing feeling to score in the Champions League, I'm happy for the team that finished in first place, we showed our qualities."
Cicquinho said that "I wasn't sure if we were first, but I was very happy when I realized that we were. We worked very hard for this."
While in France they were shocked by the series of events - in the Portuguese "A BOLA" they wrote that "as expected, Maccabi Haifa opened the game with a lot of determination and energy... but Benfica managed to finish the group stage in a historic way, with the best balance in its history in the group stage and with the most goals ".
There were difficult minutes.
Schmidt (Photo: Liron Moldovan)
eighth house
Group
games
victories
draw
losses
gates
points
1
in issue
6
4
2
0
7-16
14
2
Paris Saint Germain
6
4
2
0
7-16
14
3
Juventus
6
1
0
5
13-9
3
4
Maccabi Haifa
6
1
0
5
7-21
3
Schmidt complimented the Israeli champion: "It wasn't Maccabi Haifa's best day, but I want to compliment them on the campaign. They made it difficult for all the teams at home and they should be proud of their performances in this home."
sport
world football
Tags
Issued in Lisbon
Roger Schmidt
