Juventus v Benfica, Getty Images January 22, 2026, 12:11 AM

The famous Portuguese specialist Jose Mourinho failed to get to the main round of the UEFA Champions League this season in his first attempt at the head of the Turkish Fenerbahce, but he got a second chance thanks to Benfica, who he personally knows well. However, the performances of the “Eagles” in the previous six meetings also did not impress many people, so they approached the away match against Turin’s Juventus in a situation where the only way forward was available. Or it was possible to abandon the hope of reaching the playoffs, knowing the opponent in the last round.

There was much less pressure on the Turinese in this regard, as Luciano Spalletti’s team not only had the opportunity to win the support of their own fans, but also had enough points on their account to single-handedly build their way to the next stage in the final two rounds.

And when two teams in such a different position met each other at the Allianz Stadium, we witnessed a very careful, but still not devoid of attacking football. At the same time, special emphasis was made in the first half on shots from medium and long distances, for which Kenan Yildiz and Georgy Sudakov were present in the lineups of both teams. The Turkish attacker burdened Anatoly Trubin with work, and the Ukrainian midfielder, accordingly, forced Di Gregorio to react to his shots. But both sides still did not dare to approach the gate.

This continued until the beginning of the second half, where Benfica tried to attack in the first minutes, but in the end encountered two opponents’ attacks and spent the final half-hour with two missed goals in the passive. It was worth paying attention to Jonathan David at the edge of the Eagles’ attack, who may not have scored himself, but first he successfully picked the ball for Thuram with his body, and later McKenney assisted into the wall in the center of the penalty area.

After taking the lead on the scoreboard, Luciano Spalletti’s team predictably retreated to the defense of their own goal and tried to keep the winning score. Instead, Benfica began to attack intensively and load the ball into someone else’s penalty area. But the best moment for the Eagles, apart from Eursnes’ header to the left post, was created by the opponents themselves in the second half – Bremer tripped Barreiro’s leg in the center of his own penalty area in the 80th minute, Pavlidis had a chance to score from the penalty spot, but just missed the goal. And if so, then I had to forget about the tense last minutes.

In the final round, Turin’s Juventus will visit France’s Monaco, while Lisbon’s Benfica will host Real Madrid.