Benfica defeats Juve as both teams secures play-offs spots

Benfica claimed a 2-0 win over Juventus to ensure their Champions League play-off place.

Goals from Vangelis Pavlidis and Orkun Kokcu secured the victory for the Portuguese side.

However, both teams progressed to the play-off stage, despite failing to secure an automatic spot for the round of 16.

Benfica started brightly, and took the lead in just 16 minutes. Greece international, Pavlidis gave the visitors the lead with a cool finish. The Greek almost doubled the lead on the stroke of half-time, only to be denied by a fine save from Mattia Perin.

Juventus pushed for an equaliser in the second half, but Anatolli Trubin comfortably denied Khephren Thuram and Douglas Luiz.

The Portuguese team however finished off the job in the 80th minute. Orkun Kokcu netted a low drive into the bottom-left corner to make seal the victory.

The result saw Benfica leapfrog Juventus, to 16th on 13 points, one point and four places above the Italian side.