Benfica head coach Bruno Lage singled out Pedro Neto for special praise following the side’s Club World Cup defeat to Chelsea, pointing to the winger’s constant threat in ‘one-on-one’ duels.
The Blues appeared to be cruising towards the quarter-finals as Reece James fired a superb free-kick beyond Anatoliy Trubin to break the deadlock in the 64th minute, before play was suspended due to nearby lightning.
But Angel Di Maria held his nerve from the penalty spot to turn the last-16 tie on its head deep into stoppage time, just moments after Benfica forward Gianluca Prestianni was sent off for a second bookable offence.
Chelsea came out fighting in extra time at North Carolina’s Bank of America Stadium, though, with Christopher Nkunku, Neto and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall all finding the net to secure a 4-1 victory.
Enzo Maresca’s men will return to Philadelphia to take on Brazilian outfit Palmeiras for a place in the semi-finals next weekend.
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‘When you look at the whole game, a lot of things happened and it’s hard to accept,’ Benfica manager Lage told reporters at his post-match press conference.
‘When we work at Benfica, we have to come to these competitions with great ambition. That’s why our first goal was to get through the first round.
‘After that, anything can happen and it was 50-50. We had a good chance of getting through.’
Lage once again applauded Neto having named the Portugal international as one of Chelsea’s key weapons in the build-up to Saturday’s round of 16 contest.
‘We have to understand that we are playing against a good team, in which Pedro Neto was very strong one-on-one,’ he added.
‘We played our game. Maybe in the first half we could have done better in terms of attack, but after that, over time, the team grew and the players on the field gave us a different energy.’
Lage praised his players for the way they coped in ‘difficult’ conditions against the Europa Conference League winners.
‘We had belief that we could take the game to extra-time but then, with everything that happened to us, and with the sending off, it was very difficult to play against a great team,’ he continued.
‘It was difficult to play in these conditions. More than 30 minutes with ten men, it was very difficult.
‘But even still, I think we were the better team in the first 15 minutes of extra time.
‘We had at least four good chances, four good transitions in which we could have scored a goal. But after 2-1, the game was over.’
Facing the media shortly after the final whistle, an irate Maresca blasted the ‘joke’ decision to delay the action with his side defending a narrow lead in the closing stages of normal time.
‘For 85 minutes we were in control of the game. We didn’t concede anything; we created chances enough to win the game. And then after the break the game changed completely,’ Maresca said.
‘For me personally, it’s not football. You cannot be inside for two hours. It is something completely new.
‘I can understand that for security reasons, you are to suspend the game. But if you suspend six, seven games that means that probably is not the right place to do this competition.’
The Italian went on: ‘This is a fantastic competition. The Club World Cup is top and we are happy to be in the last eight.
‘It’s not normal to suspend a game. In a World Cup, how many games are suspended? Probably zero. In Europe, how many games? Zero.’