Benfica thumped by Bayern, Porto draw at AC Milan and Sporting thrash Besiktas: A round-up of a mixed week in the Champions League for Portugal

Benfica, Porto and Sporting all still remain in contention to qualify for the round of 16 of this season’s UEFA Champions League despite experiencing contrasting fortunes in Europe’s most illustrious club competition in the latest gameweek.

While Benfica were comprehensively dispatched of by a rampant Bayern Munich, Sporting once again cruised to victory over Besiktas, in turn becoming the first - and to date only - Portuguese club to confirm that they will be playing in European competition after Christmas. Whether it will be in the Champions League or Europa League remains to be seen.

Porto, meanwhile, were dominant in Italy, knowing that a win would ensure that they would at the very least finish 3rd in the group, but could only manage a draw having taken a very early lead.

Benfica comfortably beaten by one of the best in Bayern

Jorge Jesus’ side followed up their 0-4 loss to Bayern Munich on home soil with a 5-2 loss in Germany - but can hold their heads high after a solid display against the German giants despite the one-sided result.

Indeed, Benfica started the match with good intensity, closing down Bayern and creating a couple of very good goalscoring opportunities early on. In fact, Benfica looked as though they had broken the deadlock in the opening 20 minutes and taken an unlikely lead - but Pizzi was shown to have been offside by the slimmest of margins, his shoulder just beyond the legal limit to prevent Benfica from making a dream start.

From there, Bayern were largely on top, and looked threatening from every attack. A quick double, first from Lewandowski heading in on the goal line and a second from a simple finish from Gnabry, quickly turning a potential dream start into a nightmare for the Eagles.

However, as much as there was a genuine fear that this could be an even bigger rout than the first meeting between these two sides, Benfica quickly responded, becoming the first team to score against Bayern in this season’s Champions League when Morato headed home from a perfect Grimaldo cross, and Benfica would go into the break just one goals down after Lewandowski missed a penalty just before half time.

Bayern came out of the blocks flying though, Leroy Sane scoring a delightful drive to restore Bayern’s two goal lead in the 49th minute, before Lewandowski got his second of the game just after the hour mark to make it 4-1.

Benfica again regained some sense of respectibility though when Darwin Nunez squeezed his shot past Neuer, but it was Bayern that would get the last laugh, Lewandowski chipping Vlachodimos to get his hattrick and make it a convincing win in the end for the German champions. But there were positives for Benfica to take from the match, who will face Barcelona away in their next outing, which will all but decide who qualifies for the round of 16 of the Champions League alongside the Bavarians.

Porto draw to AC Milan - but it could have been more

Porto, meanwhile, played with great class against the high-flying AC Milan, having already narrowly, but comprehensively, defeated the Italians at home in the reverse meeting, but only came away with a point in this latest clash.

Sergio Conceicao’s side took the lead very early on with Grujic, who came in for the injured Uribe, stealing the ball high up the pitch before laying it off to Luis Diaz, who made no mistake in slotting home.

Although Porto dominated the rest of the half, they were unable to extend their lead, and the longer it remained only 1-0, the more AC Milan grew into the game and the more likely a sucker-punch appeared to be.

And indeed, just after the hour mark, AC Milan managed to break through, Chancel Mbemba unlucky in putting the ball into his own net after failing to readjust his feet. AC Milan even thought they took the lead a little later through substitute Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but Hernandez was offside in the build-up, and both sides had to settle for a point.

Before the game, a draw would have been seen as a very good result for Porto, but after such a good display, it certainly feels like two points dropped. Nevertheless, the point sees them stay 2nd in the group, a point above Atletico Madrid, and four above AC Milan. It looks very likely that Porto will therefore be playing European football after Christmas - but in which competition is less clear.

Sporting demolish Besiktas yet again

Sporting were again free-scoring when taking on the Turkish champions, matching the number of goals they managed to score in the away fixture as they won 4-0 in Lisbon.

Sporting were dominant from the very beginning, and should have taken the lead twice through Paulinho, but he failed to convert on both occasions. It didn’t take Ruben Amorim’s side too long to rectify that though, with Pedro Goncalves converting from the penalty spot with a calm finish to break the deadlock.

Goncalves then doubled his tally on the night with a wonderful finish in the 38th minute, before Paulinho drilled one in just 3 minutes later to give Sporting a 3-0 lead heading into the break.

Sarabia then rounded off the comfortable victory, slotting home on the rebound to make it 4-0. Although Besiktas then created a couple of decent opportunities to make the scoreline more respectable, they failed to convert, and Sporting now know that they will at least finish 3rd in the group, having now picked up 6 points from their first 4 games - more than either of Portugal’s other two Champions League representatives so far.

Sarabia. Photo author: Sandro Halank. License link.