Crafty Hapoel impress Benfica coach Jesus

Jorge Jesus believed his SL Benfica side were good value for their 2-0 win against a Hapoel Tel-Aviv FC team only "lacking in the luck department" according their upbeat coach Eli Gutman.

Jorge Jesus, Benfica coach
I am satisfied. We deserved to win. The most important thing was to start by winning with a clean sheet. A victory is the best way to boost a team's morale. We we're very steady in defence and picked our moment to score. We knew that if we got the first one they would have to take more risks.

They are an excellent team and they will not end up fourth in this section. Let's see if they don't complicate things for everyone in this group.

Eli Gutman, Hapoel coach
We lost the match but came to play football, not just to hoof it upfield. We created chances and kept hold of the ball as much as we could, but we were lacking in the luck department. Toto Tamuz's shot hitting the woodwork in the closing stages was symbolic of our performance on the night.

Benfica are the champions of Portugal and we are the Israeli champions; we were worthy opponents and our players felt good on the pitch. They ran, created chances and even though we didn't score this time, maybe we will next time. Lyon are tough opponents, but at Bloomfield we are capable of anything.