Bayern Munich will take a slender lead into the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Benfica after Arturo Vidal’s early goal earned a 1-0 win over the resolute Portuguese side on Tuesday.
Benfica, aiming to reach the European Cup semi-finals for the first time since 1990, have conceded 13 goals in their three previous visits to Bayern and must have feared the worst when Vidal headed home after two minutes.
But the floodgates failed to open after that as the visiting defence stood firm on a frustrating evening for the hosts who beat Benfica’s arch-rivals Porto 6-1 at home at the same stage of the competition last season.
Five-times European champions Bayern had also found goals easy to come by in the Champions League this season, blasting 18 in their previous four home matches, but came up against some dogged defending as they pushed to extend their advantage.
Bayern striker Robert Lewandowski had a superb chance to add a second in the dying stages but bizarrely opted to try and pass to Philipp Lahm when through on goal and it was wasted.
Benfica’s defence did a good job, their four-man backline works pretty well. In the end we missed the chance to score a second goal but sometimes a 1-0 has to be enough.Manuel Neuer, Goalkeeper, Bayern Munich
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