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Benfica open group campaign with useful draw in Berlin

Hertha Berlin 1-1 Benfica

Benfica started the group stage of their Uefa Cup campaign positively as the Portuguese side drew 1-1 away against Hertha Berlin. A Di Maria goal was cancelled out by a late Marko Pantelic strike to see both sides earn a share of the spoils in their Group B debuts.

Before the match started Benfica were dealt a blow as Yebda injured himself during warm-up and the Frenchman was substituted by Binya in the line-up. On the other side of the field, Hertha’s Andrei Voronin was cleared to play after shaking off a thigh injury he suffered a day earlier during training.

Knowing that history was not on their side, Benfica obviously felt it was important to get the match underway on the right foot. The Eagles did just that as Di Maria grazed the post in the 4th minute of the match as his effort took a deflection off the Hertha defender.

Midway through the half, the home side began to gain control of the match with Voronin acting as Benfica’s nemesis. The Ukrainian striker came close to opening the scoring in the 18th minute when his strike just whistled past the post with Quim on the spot to see the ball go out of play.

Quim saves the day

The former Liverpool man was the centre of attention for the hosts once again just before the break. Voronin raced through one-one-one against Quim, but the Portuguese goalkeeper got the better of the Hertha player, coming off of his line to deny the striker with a fantastic stop.

Benfica came out blazing in the second half and could not have asked for a better start as Nuno Gomes fed a charging Di Maria with a beautiful pass down the right flank and the Argentine forward made no mistake as he tucked the ball past Hertha goalkeeper Drobny with Suazo on the spot to escort the ball into the net.

The Lisbon club were unlucky not to double the lead in the 69th minute when Di Maria had another effort on goal, but the ball took a deflection and rolled across the goal line with no one on the spot to tap the ball into the net.

Pantelic, who came on as a second-half substitute, made his presence felt in the 71st minute as the Serbian was fortunate to see a rebound land right at his feet, but his effort went straight at Quim.

Lucky deflection

The half-chance was a sign of things to come as Pantelic brought Hertha back into the game three minutes later when the striker was the benefactor of some more good fortune. Sidnei cut off a pass, but it went straight to the forward and Pantelic’s shot took a deflection off Maxi Pereira and looped over Quim to level the score at one goal apiece.

Voronin had one last effort to get his name on the score sheet in the 77th minute, but the striker could not find the net as his shot went wide of goal.

Benfica would have been happier with a win but will take the draw and look to build on it when they host Turkish giants Galatasaray at the Estadio da Luz on 6 November.

Hertha Berlin:
Drobny, Chahed, Friedrich (Kaka, 53), Simunic, Stein (Pantelic, 66), Lustenberger, Dardai (Kacar, 46), Cicero, Nicu, Raffael, Voronin

Benfica:
Quim, Maxi Pereiira, Luisao, Sidnei, Jorge Ribeiro, Katsouranis (Carlos Martins, 66), Binya, Reyes (Urreta, 73), Di Maria, Nuno Gomes, Cardozo (Suazo, 46)
Yellow Cards: Di Maria

Goals:
[0-1] Di Maria, 51
[1-1] Pantelic, 74