Benfica Advance: Goalkeeper Scores Dramatic Winner in Lisbon

The format of European Cups with one big table brings wild moves, full of tension and emotions in the last rounds. For example, one goal decides the progress. Like a late Wednesday night in Lisbon. Benfica was leading Real Madrid 3-2, but at that moment they were not progressing because they had the same score difference as Marseille, but had fewer goals scored. That’s why she needed to score one more time.

In the eighth minute of regulation, everyone chased both the opponent and goalkeeper Trubin out of the attacking standard situation in front of the goal. “I didn’t know what we needed. But everyone, including the coach, was yelling at me to go up. So I went,” Trubin told the television cameras.

Fredrik Aursnes crossed, the Ukrainian goalkeeper found the ball and headed it perfectly into the net. In euphoria, he then ran around the field, slipped and allowed himself to be covered by his teammates.

Enthusiastic Benfica coach José Mourinho also celebrated massively, grabbing one of the young forwards by the shoulders as he ran and pumped him joyfully towards the roaring stands.

“I was already close against Porto (0:1 in the domestic cup – editor’s note), now I succeeded. I don’t know what to say. I’m not used to scoring. I’m twenty-four and I did it for the first time. It’s unbelievable,” Trubin described.

The teammates were also logically ecstatic. “It’s unbelievable what happened. Trubin scored a goal from another planet. But it’s a deserved result for how we all worked,” breathed Benfica captain Nicolás Otamendi.

“Maybe I’ll have to practice headers with him, it was incredible,” laughed Trubin’s other teammate, forward Vangelis Pavlidis.

Even the experienced Mourinho is getting used to similar emotionally heated moments with the new format of the competition. “I remembered how I won or lost in the last minute. It happened to me several times. But this was a completely different situation. We were leading and it wasn’t enough to progress, then we thought we would, and then we didn’t. We had to change something on the pitch, take risks. It could have been 3-3 and we would have been eliminated. Beating Real Madrid always carries a lot of weight. This victory is historic. It is important from an economic point of view and even more so in terms of prestige.” said the Benfica coach.

It is interesting that the clash between the two teams can happen right in the first round of the elimination phase of the Champions League. Benfica took 24th place, and Friday’s draw will decide whether it will challenge tenth-placed Inter Milan or ninth-placed Real Madrid in the playoffs.