SL Benfica are a much stronger opponent than FC Basel or FC Spartak Moscow and that became apparent on the pitch of “Estádio da Luz”. Their excellent passing game and attacking deployment presented a very tough 93-minute task for PAOK.

But Răzvan Lucescu’s team have proved they are steadily growing, learning, adapting and capable to overcome even the roughest challenges.

The Romanian tactician chose to fill Omar El Kaddouri’s void with Léo Jabá and keep his successful tactics unchanged. His SL Benfica counterpart, Rui Vitória, couldn’t count on Salvio and started Živković on the right wing.

PAOK opted for a strong start in order to take their rivals by surprise and wasted two good chances for an opener, with Aleksandar Prijović and José Alberto Cañas. After the initial fifteen minutes, SL Benfica took control and started pushing the black-and-white defence.

Pizzi was in command, featuring in all attacking plays of the home side. He missed a good chance to start with, then was denied by Alexandros Paschalakis, a few minutes later saw his shot hit the post and, in the 29th minute, his header flew just wide.

In the 31st minute, Jabá charged into SL Benfica’s box, was pushed by Dias but referee Milorad Mažić waved “play”. He didn’t do the same by the end of the first half though. Maurício and Jedson went for the ball, the Portuguese teenager kicked thin air and the referee pointed to the spot. Pizzi converted the penalty giving the home side the lead.

The complexion of the encounter remained unchanged after the interval. The home outfit remained in control and threatened Paschalakis several times with a second goal, but the excellent PAOK goalkeeper stood firm.

Lucescu introduced Amr Warda in the game for Dimitris Limnios, in order to freshen up his attack, and was vindicated in the last 20 minutes. PAOK stepped on the throttle and started pushing for an equalizer. In the 76th minute, Léo Matos earned a free-kick, converted by Dimitris Pelkas . The Brazilian full-back’s header landed on the crossbar and Warda collected the rebound to unleash a shot for the precious away goal (1-1).

The last minutes were full of drama. The Lisbon players charged forward and wasted two good opportunities for a winner. In the 90th minute, Paschalakis produced the save of the match in a one-on-one situation with Ferreyra.

PAOK return to Thessaloniki having secured an excellent result. In eight days, they will line-up for the most important encounter of their modern European history. Until the next one…

Line-ups:

SL Benfica: Vlachodimos, Grimaldo, Fejsa, Rúben Dias, Živković (65’ Rafa Silva), Cervi (79’ Seferović), Ferreyra, Pizzi (80’ João Félix), Jardel, André Almeida, Gedson Fernandes.

PΑΟΚ: Paschalakis, Matos, Crespo, Varela, Vieirinha , Maurício, Cañas, Pelkas , Limnios (53’ Warda), Jabá (81’ Shakhov), Prijović (87’ Akpom).