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Banfika players celebrate (Shahar Gross)
88th minute at the Sami Ofer Stadium on November 2, 2022. Paris Saint-Germain is on its way to a victory over Juventus and the first place in house number 8 on the way to the round of 16 of the Champions League, while Benfica Lisbon leads 1:4 against Maccabi Haifa, which ended its road in the factory.
In that minute, Enrique Araujo scored and raised the Portuguese to 1:5 in Israel. At this stage PSG was still the home leader, but Joao Mario once again subdued Josh Cohen in the 92nd minute and determined: the French and Benfica have exactly the same balance.
Christophe Galtier’s team finished the group stage with four wins and two draws (against Benfica), and a goal difference of 7:16. The Portuguese finished with the exact same record, except that they scored most of their goals away from home, thanks in large part to Sami Ofer’s six, and thanks to that they rose from first place at the very last moment.
Paris, who came from second place, received Bayern Munich in the draw for the round of 16, and tonight (Wednesday) failed in its mission to make a turnaround at the Allianz Arena, losing 2:0 and was eliminated in the last 16 stage for the second season in a row. Benfica, on the other hand, won a comfortable draw in the form of Club Brugge and continued very easily to the quarter-finals. There is no doubt that the French can only blame themselves against the Germans, but in the group stage – the goddess of luck was completely not on the side of Leo Messi and his friends.
