90' away from the dream

Nobody can doubt about PAOK's sensational campaign so far in Champions League qualifiers and that is more than fair for them to claim their participation in Champions League group for the first time in their history. They eliminated two teams who had great experience in group stage (Spartak Moscow, Basel) and they are now close to eliminate a third one, Benfica. In the first leg in 'Da Luz', of course the Portugueses dominated at home, but what else was to be expected? PAOK followed their plan during the whole game and with plenty of luck they managed to draw the game 1-1. May the Greek team consist of foreign players from here and there, European and Brazilians, but R.Lucescu made them having a fantastic team coherence.

Benfica have always the way reaching Champions League group stage. However Jonas absence due to injury from the very start caused them problems in attack. Now they are based on Ferreyra to score, as the other attacker, Swiss Seferovic, can't stand to this level, at least in my opinion. Both in the game against PAOK and the one against Sporting Lisbon for Primeira Liga, Benfica had the possesion of the ball more than 65% and proper chances to score, however they didn't win in any game, proving that they have problems in attack.

I don't think that the Greek team will easily qualify tonight, but they will have the support of their crazy fans in 'Toumba' who definitely are the 12th player of the team. 'Toumpa' is not an easy home for any team, however Benfica have a huge experience in this level of games. I believe that both teams to score will be the 'safer' choice at quite decent odds (1.85).