Atletico Madrid have progressed to the last 16 in the Champions League as group winners after beating Benfica 2-1 at Estadio da Luz in their final group stage fixture.
Saul Niguez and Luciano Vietto were on the scoresheet for the La Liga side, before Kostas Mitroglou pulled one back for the Portuguese champions late on.
The result leaves the home side going through in second place, while Atletico will be seeded for the knockout stage draw, which takes place next Monday.
Here, Sports Mole takes a closer look at the result.
Match statistics
BENFICA
Shots: 12
On target: 3
Possession: 57%
Corners: 2
Fouls: 9
ATLETICO MADRID
Shots: 8
On target: 5
Possession: 43%
Corners: 5
Fouls: 16
Was the result fair?
Over the course of 90 minutes, Atletico definitely put in the stronger performance, looking more clinical going forward and defending well to limit their opponents' chances. Benfica will feel unlucky not to have got back on level terms in the final few minutes, saving their best spell of the match for the last 15 minutes, but they created little in the first hour, and the visitors almost had a third when Diego Godin had a goal ruled out for offside early on. There was little between the two sides this evening, but Atletico just showed more quality in their performance, making the away win a fair result.
Benfica's performance
The home side dominated the possession in the opening 20 minutes, but did nothing with the ball, failing to test the Atletico goalkeeper until over an hour into the fixture. The Portuguese side looked disjointed going forward for much of the tie, with Pizzi and Nicolas Gaitan regularly missing each other with basic passes. Renato Sanches and Raul Jimenez finished the night strongly to give the hosts some late hope, but they struggled to penetrate a rock solid Atletico back four through the evening. At the back, Jardel and Andre Almeida's eagerness to get forward left Lisandro Lopez and Eliseu exposed at times, resulting in Atletico creating the majority of the on-target shots.
Atletico's performance
It took Diego Simeone's side a while to get going, seeing little possession in the opening quarter of an hour. It all seemed to click all of a sudden for the La Liga outfit though, with Diego Godin just missing out on the opener as he drifted offside, before Niguez found the back of the net soon after. The visitors hurried Benfica throughout the second half, ensuring that they limited their opponents' possession to set up a second goal. Even with Benfica on the front foot in the final 15 minutes, Atletico looked solid at the back, with Godin and Filipe Luis putting in clinical performances to make sure Jan Oblak had a quiet night between the posts. They looked a little rattled by Mitroglou's goal, but quickly regained their composure to make sure a Benfica comeback was never really on the cards.
Sports Mole's man of the match
Saul Niguez: Atletico worked well as a team, but Niguez's performance really stood out. Niguez looked sharp throughout the first half, putting a number of dangerous-looking balls in the Benfica box before opening the scoring with a clinical finish shortly before half time. The midfielder continued to work tirelessly in the second half, trying to create chances for himself as well as looking for the goal.
Biggest gaffe
There was plenty of wayward finishing from the home side, but Diego Godin's offside header was probably the most costly mistake of the night. The defender did not need to take a step to get in space, having been unmarked during a first-half corner, but he was too eager, costing his side what could have been the opening goal. Ultimately, it did not cost the visitors the match, but with Benfica pushing for a second in the final minutes, another goal would have made things much more comfortable for Atletico.
Referee performance
Romanian official Ovidiu Hategan had a relatively uneventful game, with few contentious incidents for the 35-year-old referee to worry about. He handed out a few yellow cards in the second half as some harsh challenges from Atletico came in, but cut the fouls out, leaving him with a quiet night in the middle.
What next?
Benfica: Benfica are back in league action on Saturday, when they travel to in-form Vitoria Setubal.
Atletico Madrid: Atletico, who are now unbeaten in 13 matches, are not back in action until Sunday, when they host Athletic Bilbao in La Liga, looking for their eighth straight victory in all competitions.
Sian Cowper
