Pavlidis stars to seal play-off place for Benfica
Vangelis Pavlidis scored one and assisted one to help Benfica secure their Champions League play-off place with a 2-0 win over Juventus.
Juventus was also assured of a top-24 finish coming into the final game of the league phase, and could not stifle their visitors, who had everything to play for.
Benfica started brightly, and it took just 16 minutes for Pavlidis to put them ahead with a cool finish. They could have doubled their lead on the stroke of half-time too, but Mattia Perin denied the Greek striker with a fine Mattia Perin save.
Juventus pushed for an equaliser in the second half without causing its visitor any real problems, with Anatolli Trubin looking comfortable as he denied Khephren Thuram and Douglas Luiz.
Against the run of play, Benfica finished off the job 10 minutes from time, with Orkun Kokcu netting with a low drive into the bottom-left corner before Kerem Akturkoglu missed a chance to add some gloss to the scoreline last on as he fired wide.
The result saw Benfica leapfrog Juventus in the standings, moving up to 16th on 13 points, one point and four places above the Italian side.
