Benfica Beat Omonia 4-1 to Go Top of the Europa League Table
Benfica beat Omonia Nicosia 4-1 at the GSP Stadium in Cyprus on Thursday, October 22, in matchday 3 of the Europa League. The Portuguese side were ruthless in the second half, and the win lifts them to the top of the league phase table with a perfect record of three wins from three.
Benfica took the lead in the 14th minute. Omonia's Loïc Négo put the ball into his own net, and the visitors held a 1-0 advantage. Benfica controlled most of the early possession, but they struggled to find the final pass. Omonia created good chances and missed them. The hosts equalised just before half-time. Andronikos Kakoullis scored in the 42nd minute, set up by Jaden Montnor, to make it 1-1.
The second half was completely different. Benfica came out with much more intent and took the lead again within four minutes of the restart. Vangelis Pavlidis scored in the 49th minute, and the striker went on to hit the post in the 74th minute and constantly pinned Omonia's centre-backs. Dodi Lukébakio provided an assist in the match.
Fredrik Aursnes made it 3-1 in the 76th minute, and substitute Gianluca Prestianni sealed the win with a fourth goal in the 85th minute. Omonia replaced Pavlos Andreou with Andreas Christou in the 81st minute, but they never recovered.
The statistics show how dominant Benfica were. They had 64% of the possession and 23 shots, ten of them on target, against Omonia's seven shots and five on target. Benfica's expected goals total was 2.68, compared with 0.57 for the hosts. Claudio Echeverri had five shots, the most of any player in the match, and Pavlidis had four.
Benfica now have nine points from three games. They are level on points with Bayer Leverkusen, but they are ahead on goal difference. They earned the points after beating AC Milan 2-0 away in their opening match and Celtic 4-1 at home in their second.
The Portuguese side return to European action on November 5, when they host Polish side Lech Poznań.