Benfica – Bayer, Getty Images 06 November 2025, 00:03

Lisbon Benfica has become even more interesting for us this season, because in its composition there are two players of the national team of Ukraine: goalkeeper Anatoly Trubin and midfielder Heorhiy Sudakov, who are key performers in the team, which has recently been led by the unique and “Special” Jose Mourinho. However, this whole bright company cannot demonstrate anything at all in terms of getting a result in the UEFA Champions League, where after three played matches the “eagles” had no points at all.

This time, Benfica played on their own field against Bayer Leverkusen, who also frankly did not grab the stars from the sky in their performances, but they did get two points in the opening rounds, so they went to Da Luz with a certain amount of confidence in their own abilities. Although against the background of the rout on the field of Bayern Munich, which they inflicted on the “pharmacists” last weekend.

In general, the duel was about attacking football from both sides, in which no one wanted to give in, but someone did something better, and someone ended up with unsuccessful attempts to push the ball into the net. The latter is about the Lisbon team, in which Sudakov created at least three real goal-scoring opportunities for his partners with luxurious passes, but no one was in a hurry to implement them.

After all, Benfica even managed to hit the crossbar twice in the first half thanks to the efforts of Lukebakio and Otamendi and generally looked good offensively. The goal of Mourinho’s team was brewing, but it never came. As? This question can be addressed to Lukebakio and Pavlidis, who wasted great scoring opportunities.

In the second half, at the 65th minute, it was time for us to remember that the defense of the Lisbon team is faltering on both legs, and in fact, out of nowhere, Bayer burst into a goal-scoring opportunity for Schick, whose first shot from the left wing of the penalty area could still be pulled by Trubin, but when Dahl then returned the rebound straight to the head of the Czech attacker in front of an empty net, it was no longer the fault of the Ukrainian goalkeeper.

Sudakov removed Mourinho from the game four minutes after that, and, strangely enough, after Giorgi, the fans at Da Luz were drawn away from this match. Rain also began to pour from the sky over Lisbon, so the public was tired of watching the suffering of their own team. And she continued to try to save herself, but Lukebakio did not get along with his own aim, and besides him, no one else was left to pose a threat to the goal of other people this evening. So the defeat happened. Queue

In the next round, Lisbon Benfica will visit Ajax Amsterdam, while Bayer Leverkusen will visit English Manchester City.

Bayer: Flecken – Kwansa, Bade, Tapsoba – Arthur, Garcia, Maza, Grimaldo – Echeverri (Tillman, 57), Poku (Ben Sehir, 88) – Kofane (Schick, 57).

Warning: Lukebakio, Otamendi, Rios — Maza, Tapsoba