Benfica staged a dramatic comeback to hand AS Monaco their first Champions League defeat of the season, clinching a thrilling 3-2 victory in France on Wednesday.
Despite Monaco’s promising start, they were reduced to 10 men after Wilfried Singo’s dismissal, which proved pivotal in the closing stages.
Eliesse Ben Seghir opened the scoring for Monaco in the 13th minute, capitalizing on Aleksandr Golovin’s pinpoint pullback following a swift counter-attack.
The young forward calmly fired into the net, giving the hosts early momentum.
Benfica, however, began to dominate possession and nearly drew level in the 37th minute. Angel Di Maria intercepted a sloppy back-pass but was denied by goalkeeper Radoslaw Majecki. Moments later, Nicolas Otamendi’s header narrowly missed the target from the ensuing corner.
The second half began at a frantic pace. Breel Embolo rattled the post for Monaco, but the miss would come back to haunt them.
Benfica’s Vangelis Pavlidis seized on a poor clearance by Caio Henrique, pouncing to equalize and reignite the contest.
Both teams found the net soon after, only for VAR to rule the goals offside. Tensions rose as Monaco’s Singo received a second yellow card, leaving the home side a man down.
Despite this setback, Monaco regained the lead in the 67th minute when Soungoutou Magassa latched onto Christian Mawissa’s pass and slotted home his first goal for the club.
Monaco’s resilience faltered as fatigue set in. Sensing an opportunity, Di Maria delivered a pinpoint cross in the 84th minute, allowing Arthur Cabral to head in the equalizer.
Just four minutes later, Di Maria’s brilliance surfaced again, this time setting up Zeki Amdouni, whose header sealed Benfica’s comeback win.
The result saw Monaco drop to eighth place in the standings with 10 points, while Benfica climbed to 14th with nine points, intensifying the race for qualification.
