Benfica 2-2 Rangers: Hosts come from behind twice to keep last-16 clash alive
Walk around Benfica’s iconic Estadio da Luz before a game like this and the experience is a marketing man’s dream.
A high-octane money spinner, kids play mini games of football in the hope of becoming the next Enzo Fernandez, the club shop does a roaring trade, food stalls bustle with life, DJs belt out thumping dance numbers. All of this explains why the Portuguese champions boast a turnover twice as big as Rangers and spent £82million on new signings last summer.
Last night, Argentina World Cup winners Nicolas Otamendi and Angel di Maria were in the starting XI. Forward Rafa Silva began the match with 17 goals in all competitions.
Centre-back Antonio Silva is only 20 but already has seven caps for Portugal, while 19-year-old midfielder Joao Neves has broken into the national side and has some of Europe’s biggest clubs on his trail.
Turkish midfielder Orkun Kokcu arrived for a club record £25m from Feyenoord in pre-season and couldn’t make it on to the pitch last night.
Against a Rangers team which seems to live for the Europa League anthem, all the riches of the Portuguese champions didn’t count for much in the end.
Missing eight first-team players - five in attacking areas - Philippe Clement’s side had no right to match, let alone outplay, a club which spent the equivalent of a small nation’s debt in the summer.
Taking the lead twice before being reeled in by Connor Goldson’s second Europa League own goal in the Estadio da Luz, the Premiership leaders earned a first-leg result which offers a real chance of progress to the quarter-finals when they host Benfica at Ibrox next week.
Resisting the urge to park the bus on the 18-yard line, the Belgian improvised, fielding Fabio Silva and Dujon Sterling as makeshift wide men. A
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