That’s the lot from me. Thanks for reading and emailing in. Paul Doyle has reaction from Old Trafford here:
The quarter-final draw takes place on Friday. Let’s hope they don’t balls it up again:
Report!
Updated
The BT pundit Peter Crouch calls Benfica’s defensive effort ‘absolutely magnificent’, and I concur.
“I don’t think they sit in like that if you still had the away goals rule,” adds Crouch, which is a good point.
Updated
Here is David Hytner’s report from Manchester United’s defeat at Old Trafford:
“That referee is a disgrace,” emails DM. “Lets Benfica get away with everything, Otamendi in particular has committed several card-worthy offences.”
I am not sure I agree: I think the referee was less fussy than many Champions League referees, he let some stuff go that others wouldn’t. But Otamendi, Vertonghen and in fact the entire Benfica team were very impressive in the way they went about defending. Ajax didn’t create enough, and when they did fashion a half-decent chance, they lacked ruthlessness. I think it was an entirely fair result and a good old-fashioned European away win for Benfica.
Updated
Ajax had two shots on target in all. Benfica had one. The one that went in. Ajax had 66% possession. Two 0-1 results in the Champions League this evening.
There are tears among the home fans. That is a painful defeat. Surely not as bad as the 2019 semi-final loss against Tottenham. But still bad.
Full-time! Ajax 0-1 Benfica (2-3 aggregate)
You have to say, that is a fine backs-to-the-wall performance by Benfica. Ajax was so, so wasteful at times, but that was partly due to the visitors’ defensive shape, and the way they closed down. Ten Hag is pictured having a chat with the referee, Carlos del Cerro Grande, and he does not look happy.
90 min + 6: Kudus on for Ajax, for the final minute. Yaremchuk bursts through on goal! But he’s eventually crowded out. The Benfica players and staff want the final whistle ... there is a chance for Brobbey for Ajax! He misses it (the keeper saves) but he’s offside anyway!
90 min + 4: Blind is booked for dissent after a foul by Gravenberch. Moments ago, a cross by Antony was blocked and Ajax wanted a penalty but the referee waved their appeals away.
Manchester United are out – they’ve lost 0-1 and 2-1 on aggregate to Atlético Madrid.
Updated
90 min + 2: Weigl of Benfica goes down after contesting a tackle. The Ajax fans are livid. There has been a lot of time wasting. Or attempted time wasting, if the referee is adding it all on. It’s become seven minutes added on instead of six.
Updated
90 min: We’ll have six minutes added on. Six minutes for Ajax to find something.
Updated
87 min: Haller has a free header at the back stick. He’s a long way from goal, and seems to attempt to knock it back across goal where a couple of teammates are lurking, but he gets in all wrong. Ajax have lacked precision every time it’s mattered. And at the other times, Benfica have been on hand to hustle and harry and win back possession.
85 min: This, at the moment, is the absolute classic smash-and-grab from Benfica. They have defended beautifully and with real determination and spirit. They have nicked a set-piece goal on one of their rare forays into the opponent’s half. Ajax have five minutes plus stoppages to force extra time.
82 min: Timber is booked for crunching into Otamendi as they jump for a header. Otamendi stays down. The home fans wail their disapproval as the clock ticks down. Ten Hag is pictured looking ashen-faced on the touchline.
Updated
81 min: Nunez, the Benfica goal scorer, goes off. Goncalves comes on. Ajax bring off Berghuis and Alvarez, Klaasen and Brobbey come on.
80 min: The sheer number of chances missed by Ajax made you worry for them. Nunez now goes down injured, or at the very least, pretending to be. Angry Ajax fans are pictured yelling at him to get up and stop wasting time.
77 min: It was a foul by Alvarez of Ajax on Ramos near the corner flag. Grimaldo cracks over a fine delivery from the free-kick. Onana tries to punch it clear, but gets nowhere near it. Timber is marking Nunez, but may as well be back in the changing rooms for all the difference he makes. The prolific Benfica forward buries his header and shouts BENFEEEEEEECA! at the camera while he celebrates.
Goal! 76 min: Ajax 0-1 Benfica (Nunez)
Nunez buries a powerful header after a set piece from the right!
Updated
72 min: Blind floats over another cross. Haller controls it and holds it up. Benfica swarm all over Ajax again. The ball isn’t cleared immediately and the crowd gets excited. A strong challenge by Vertonghen ends Ajax’s latest attack. At this rate we’re going to have extra time, but football being football, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Benfica nick it before full time, either.
71 min: Gravenberch floats a cross over for Antony. Grimaldo of Benfica stays strong, and meets it with a solid defensive clearing header. Seconds later, there’s a shout for handball after Gravenberch smacks a volley goalwards, but the ref isn’t having it. Yaremchuk, the Ukrainian, comes on in place of Everton.
Updated
70 min: Yaremchuk is about to come on for Benfica.
69 min: At Old Trafford, Manchester United still trail by a goal to nil against Atlético.
Updated
65 min: Ajax rush forward down the right. Antony cuts the ball back to Haller. It’s a sign of how determinedly Benfica are defending that Haller only has space to turn back and pick out Gravenberch ... who dives and tries to buy a penalty, but again the referee is not impressed. This is really good deep defending from Benfica, the kind of thing you associate with a Mourinho-coached team, or perhaps a Mourinho-coached team of 10 years ago.
Ramos of Benfica is booked by the referee for a lusty challenge on Gravenberch.
Updated
62 min: Blind roars to the byline on the left and hangs up a good cross towards the far post. It’s not the easiest chance for Antony but perhaps needless to say, given the quality of Ajax’s finishing so far, he fluffs it up and sends it high and wide. His pained face, after missing the chance, sums up the frustration being felt by fans and players alike.
Updated
60 min: Mazraoui and Antony again try and make inroads on the Ajax right, but this time it’s Nunez who is back in a defensive position and wins the ball back.
59 min: “We’re approaching the hour mark and there’s yet to be a shot on target,” writes Kári Tulinius. “I’ve spent most of the second half wondering about whether there’s just one guy waving the big Ajax flag, or if there’s a group which rotates flag waving duty. Hopefully something interesting happens soon.”
It’s one for the purists. Or is it not one for the purists? I’m never quite sure. It’s not very exciting at the moment anyway.
Updated
57 min: Benfica win a corner. It bounces past a number of bodies and Vertonghen meets it from beyond the far post. He tries to send his header either back for a teammate or perhaps into the far post but achieves neither.
56 min: Antony and Mazraoui exchange passes neatly on the wing but the Benfica pressing and positioning remains solid. Antony tries to play a ball along the touchline but Mazraoui doesn’t read it.
55 min: What’s happening? Almost nothing. It’s become very scrappy. Which you have to say will suit Benfica. The flow of the first half has disappeared and Ajax have lost their attacking momentum.
Updated
52 min: Tadic crosses, Haller heads wide. He was offside anyway. Ajax have missed a LOT of chances though. You worry for them because Benfica still hold plenty of threat on the break.
51 min: Berghuis takes a corner from the Ajax right. It’s whipped powerfully to the near post but again, it’s headed clear by this steadfast Benfica back line.
48 min: Gravenberch tries to spread an imperious pass, switching the play from left to right for Antony but it’s fractionally overhit. Ajax immediately come again, though, and Tadic fashions the space to turn and shoot from near the edge of the box. His effort is high and wide. It’s more of the same from Ajax, so far ...
Updated
47 min: Ajax start in the same vein as the first half – on the attack. Twice they move forward early doors in this second half, twice the danger is repelled by Benfica.
Updated
Second half kick-off!
Here we go. Can Ajax find a breakthrough? Can Benfica pull off a smash-and-grab raid? Rui Costa, the former Portugal international and schemer who played alongside Gabriel Batistuta at Fiorentina, now the Benfica president, is pictured taking his seat for the second half.
Updated
Half-time reading:
Half-time! Ajax 0-0 Benfica (2-2 agg.)
Ajax have dominated, but they have nothing to show for it so far. Benfica have defended really well, as a rule, while the home team have lacked a bit of quality when it comes to finishing and the final ball. The longer it stays 0-0, the more hopeful Benfica may be of nicking a winner.
See you in a few minutes for more.
44 min: Otamendi goes up for a header after a hanging cross by Nunez from the right. Onana, who’s had next to nothing to do, claims the ball well and keeps his eyes on it all the time ... but in doing so, there is a nasty clash of heads with Otamendi as he tries to head it. The former Manchester City man is flattened, and looks quite badly hurt, but after he’s checked by the medics he appears OK to continue.
Updated
41 min: Benfica edge towards half-time with a bit of their own possession, an increasingly rare occurrence, but can’t make meaningful inroads towards the Ajax goal. As a rule, the pressing and defensive shape of the Dutch side has been exemplary. When they are not in possession (and they are mostly in possession) they look very hard to break down.
Over at Old Trafford, Atlético Madrid have taken the lead against Manchester United, though a header by Renan Lodi.
Updated
39 min: Ajax are all over Benfica again. Tadic cuts a perceptive pass back to Berghuis from inside a crowd of bodies, and Berghuis seems to have an age to take a touch and get a shot away. But he makes a complete mess of it, scuffing his first touch, then sending what’s neither a cross nor a shot that is easily cleared by Benfica.
Updated
36 min: Gravenberch! Close! It’s more lovely football from Ajax. They surge down the left wing, Gravenberch cuts in, ghosting beyond several defenders, and thumps a powerful right-footed effort from outside the box which fizzes over the crossbar. It’s going narrowly over, but Vlachodimos isn’t taking any chances and tips it over for a corner.
Updated
34 min: Another good piece of defending by Otamendi, muscling an opponent off the ball on the edge of the box. However, his attempted floated pass is errant, and Ajax attack again. Antony shoots from the edge of the penalty area, attempting a low curler which is destined for the bottom corner, but Vlachodimos flops to his right to make an easy enough save.
Updated
32 min: The commentator Ian Darke calls Vertonghen and Otamendi ‘two grizzled defenders’ which is entirely appropriate for the Benfica centre-backs. Their presence and positioning, so far, has been a significant factor in keeping Ajax out.
Updated
30 min: Antony of Ajax is clipped on the edge of the box by Everton. Tadic bends a good cross in. Timber is there to meet it, and twists his body as he heads goalwards from point-blank range, but he can’t keep the ball down and it flies over the crossbar.
27 min: Ajax stream forward again. A cross is floated for Haller. He gets a nudge in the back, and goes down like a sack of spuds, trying to buy a penalty. The referee isn’t having any of it. The pressure from the home team is almost relentless though, and if Benfica can make it to half-time at nil-nil on the night, they can consider it a job well done.
Updated
25 min: Tadic threatens again. Benfica manage to clear, again. Ajax attack again a few moments later, Blind linking with Tadic. Berghuis cracks a half-volley from the edge of the box but gets it wrong and it screams over the crossbar.
21 min: Ajax have had 58% possession so far. Benfica, however, win three corners in quick succession. Otamendi and then Ramos have headed chances which are both cleared ... the third one is half-cleared, and Taraabt follows up with a high boot on Tadic on the edge of the box. Daley Blind demonstrates to the referee a couple of times what a bad challenge he thought that was by lifting his right boot and bearing his studs ... “That’s part of football,” says Steve McManaman after the replay in which they are both shown to have gone high.
Updated
19 min: Tadic belts a good, pacy corner to the far post. Alvarez again has a clear headed chance but makes a mess of it – in fact it looked like it bounced off his shoulder.
Updated
17 min: Benfica have probably had one meaningful attack. But they are being pinned back by Ajax’s fluent passing game rather than trying to park the bus, in fairness to them.
Updated
16 min: Another set-piece is fired into the danger zone by Ajax, this time from their right wing. Benfica deal with it again. They’ve defended all these corners and set-pieces pretty well so far.
13 min: Benfica are bringing the ball out of their own half. There’s a 50-50 ball and a high foot from Nunez of Benfica on Martinez. Martinez collapses in a heap, making a fuss about it. On replay, it is a high foot, but the contact was minimal. The referee, Carlos del Cerro Grande, has a few words but leaves it at that. Ajax burst forward again immediately and another chance goes begging.
Updated
11 min: Ajax push forward again. Tadic is caught offside again. Silly boy.
8 min: Mazraoui and Antony link down the left for Ajax. Mazraoui’s attempted cross is deflected out for a corner. From the set-piece, Alvarez ends up with a free header from about 10 yards out but he fluffs it. This is a lively affair, though, and both teams are looking to win this fair and square with some decent passing football.
Updated
6 min: Disallowed goal! Haller has the ball in the net after a nicely worked move. Tadic crossed it, and it looked like both he and Haller were in an offside position. That would have been Haller’s 12th goal of the Champions League campaign.
Updated
4 min: Benfica attack for the first time and like Ajax, are not afraid to commit men towards the opposition goal. Nunez, the Uruguayan, and one of his teammates seem to get muddled up while in the penalty area and gift the ball back to the defending side. Nunez gesticulates in anger.
Updated
2 min: Ajax start with a bit of front-foot ball, passing with purpose into the Benfica half, and winning a corner. They are clearly not going to be afraid to get numbers forward in attack. They win a corner, which is initially repelled ... but Benfica lose possession on the edge of their own penalty area. From the Ajax left, Tadic clips a good cross to the far post for Antony, who heads downwards but doesn’t get a good contact, and the ball bounces wide.
Updated
First half kick-off!
Tonight’s visitors, Benfica, are wearing black. The home team wear their traditional red and white.
Updated
The teams line up, mingling together as one, standing behind a sign which says: PEACE
Remember: No away goals rule anymore. So Ajax’s two goals in Portugal don’t count for anything extra.
Here come the teams! Kick-off is only moments away.
Updated
A bit more banter about the fact that Crouchy is tall, while Owen is short:
Best two upfront @themichaelowen @petercrouch 🙌🏽 Live @ChampionsLeague football on @btsportfootball 🔥 #UCL #ajaben pic.twitter.com/9wLsvizrIu
— Seema Jaswal (@seemajaswal) March 15, 2022
“Peace” – a show of support for Ukraine.
The Ajax manager, Erik ten Hag, is asked if he’s been practising his English (he’s being linked with Manchester United).
“No. It’s not true, We talk English in the club because we have a lot of foreign players. They are all educated in English.”
Before that, asked if he is looking to move on from Ajax and go abroad: “I don’t think it’s today the issue. It’s about today’s game. I focus on that. I don’t pay any attention to other subjects. I only focus on Ajax-Benfica.”
Updated
Peter “Crouchy” Crouch and Michael Owen are on pundit duty for BT Sport. Seema Jaswal is presenting. Crouch is quite a bit taller than Owen, although the difference is not as marked as Dan Burn v Ryan Fraser.
Paul Doyle has all the latest from Manchester United v Atlético Madrid here:
Confirmed Champions League quarter-finalists:
Bayern
Liverpool
Manchester City
Real Madrid
Remaining round of 16 ties:
Chelsea / Lille
Villarreal / Juventus
Benfica / Ajax
Atlético / Manchester United
“I suppose this is our only chance to see Everton play in Europe this season,” writes Peter Oh, in a mischievous reference to Everton Soares.
Chelsea latest:
BT Sport are showing the highlights of the first leg. Yaremchuk has just scored to make it 2-2. The first leg took place a matter of hours before Russia invaded Ukraine. How the world has changed since then.
The goalie Andre Onana - who is off to Internazionale in the summer – returns to the Ajax lineup. That’s their only change to the team from the first leg. For unchanged Benfica, the Ukrainian Roman Yaremchuk, who scored in the 2-2 first-leg draw, is on the bench. The former Tottenham, QPR and Fulham trickster Adel Taraabt starts for Benfica. The former Tottenham non-trickster Jan Vertonghen does, too.
Ajax: Onana, Mazraoui, Timber, Martinez, Blind, Gravenberch, Alvarez, Berghuis, Antony, Haller, Tadic. Substitutes: Tyton, Schuurs, Klaassen, Danilo, Rensch, Brobbey, Labyad, Kudus, Taylor, Daramy, Tagliafico, Setford.
Benfica: Vlachodimos, Gilberto, Otamendi, Vertonghen, Grimaldo, Rafa Silva, Weigl, Taarabt, Everton, Goncalo Ramos, Nunez. Substitutes: Henrique Pereira Araujo, Meite, Yaremchuk, Goncalves, Joao Mario, Lazaro, Radonjic, Gil Dias, Andre Almeida, Bernardo, Helton Leite, Morato.
Referee: Carlos del Cerro Grande (Spain)
Updated
Here’s the first-leg match report from all the way back in February:
Preamble
Ajax have played Benfica eight times in European competition before this evening and lost only once. History is with tonight’s hosts, therefore, and following the 2-2 first-leg draw in Portugal, they are fairly heavy favourites to progress to the last eight.
Sebastian Haller scored at both ends in that first tie three weeks ago – he cancelled out a 26th-minute own-goal just three minutes later, before Roman Yaremchuk’s second-half strike levelled things up at Estádio da Luz and left things nicely poised for tonight.
Despite this being his debut Champions League campaign, Haller is duking it out with Robert Lewandowski of Bayern Munich at the top of the scorers’ charts: the Polish forward knocked in an 11-minute hat-trick in the 7-1 drubbing of RB Salzburg last week, and now has 12 goals in this season’s competition to Haller’s 11.
However, as Haller will almost certainly say in his post-match interview, it’s not about personal records, it’s about Ajax winning, isn’t it? Let’s find out if they will. Team news and more coming up.
