Great night in Lisbon for this competitive UEFA Cup match and the home side didn't waste the opportunity to reach the 1/4 finals. Benfica were coming from a 2-1 defeat at Paris but that away goal scored by Simão gave lots of hopes for The Eagles to reach the next stage. Especially because everyone saw Benfica were globally a better team than the French. This time at Estádio da Luz, Simão also scored an early opening goal and Petit increased the lead with a superb lob over Landreau - one of the best goals ever in Benfica's European history, for sure. Nevertheless, the usual defensive weaknesses came at surface and Anderson's poor marking allowed Portuguese striker Pauleta to equalise the round in 3-3 aggregate. A 88th minute penalty-kick scored by captain Simão gave the definite lead to Benfica and ended with PSG's hopes of taking the game into extra-time.

Benfica's coach Fernando Santos couldn't count on some important players like goalkeeper Quim, centre-back Luisão and attacking midfielder Rui Costa. This way, he decided to bet on Moretto to be the starting goalkeeper, when the supporters were expecting to see the beloved team member Moreira getting that spot. Moretto was booed in a few moments and many blamed the Brazilian goalkeeper in Pauleta's goal - actually, we think Anderson is the man to be blamed for letting the striker with so much space; it was very difficult for Moretto to hold that header right in front of him. The good thing is that the 19 year old Brazilian centre-back David Luiz is showing some very good skills and he seems to be a great promise. In opposition to Anderson, who hasn't got any quality to play at this level. Left-back Leo is miles away from the old Leo we knew from last season. He seems to be playing with fear and that's not good. As for Nélson's defensive positioning, there's no need to say much. He's not very intelligent and his decisions are generally the worst - good dribbling is not enough.

Anchor Petit probably scored the goal of his life. He's not as technically bad as many say he is but this was really a superb goal - a fantastic lob over Landreau when everybody thought he would apply a powerful strike. As we said, Benfica's 2-0 was a good result to hold but then PSG got to attack more and The Eagles's defence shaked everytime Anderson was asked to move - the Brazilian centre-back ruined everything and put the team in a very difficult situation. The round was equalised, although Benfica had plenty of occasions to increase their lead. Including on the second half. João Coimbra replaced the injured Karagounis and Benfica lost some ability to hold ball possession - João Coimbra and Katsouranis still switched sides so they could see where they fit better - and Simão's penalty-kick rested all the supporters, following a silly foul committed by PSG's defensive midfielder Mulumbu inside the box.

With Rothen playing more in the middle, PSG tried to circulate the ball with more quality on passing and they could threaten Benfica's defence often. The problem is their defending, such as in Benfica's case.

Benfica will now play against Espanyol (first leg at Barcelona) and Greek midfielder Katsouranis will miss that fixture due to suspension. Perhaps he handballed on purpose to see that yellow card because he's quite tired at the moment and he needs a rest, especially as he will also have International duty with Greece very soon.