Benfica bounce back to progress

SL Benfica secured a place in the last 16 of the UEFA Cup on Thursday night with a hard-fought 2-1 win at FC Dinamo 1948 Bucuresti.

Quim saves
Catalin Munteanu had put Dinamo ahead, but Benfica hit back with second-half strikes from Anderson and Konstantinos Katsouranis to go through 3-1 on aggregate. The home side started brightly and had the first attempt on goal, when captain Ionel Danciulescu fired over the bar. Benfica goalkeeper Quim was called into action after 16 minutes to save an Adrian Cristea free-kick, and was back in action when Cristea again tried his luck from outside the area.

Munteanu delivers
The Romanian club deservedly went ahead on 23 minutes as Munteanu was put through by defender Cristian Pulhac and shot past Quim to level the tie on aggregate. Benfica were struggling and only Simão was offering any threat at the other end. The Portugal winger drove just wide in the 34th minute and missed another golden opportunity shortly before the interval as Benfica began to enjoy more possession.

Katsouranis header
The Lisbon outfit started the second half in similar fashion and equalised on 50 minutes. Anderson rose highest to head Simão's whipped cross past Bogdan Lobont to put the visitors back in control of the tie. Within a quarter of an hour Benfica were ahead on the night following an almost identical move, midfielder Katsouranis nodding another Simão centre past Lobont at the near post to leave the hosts needing three goals to advance.