It seems the competition in the UEFA Champions league is just too much for Greek champions AEK, who lost their second consecutive game in the group stage at home to Benfica by 2-3. After their hands-down defeat in day one at the hands of Ajax in Amsterdam, the ‘yellow-and-blacks’ knew they needed to get something out of this game if they were to stay alive in pursuit of at least third place in the group.

AEK manager Marinos Ouzounidis was left without his main attacking force, Marko Livaja (who is still suspended), midfielder Alef and left back Helder Lopes, who suffered a severe injury on Sunday’s game against OFI and could be missing for a few months.

Benfica wasted no time and struck on the sixth minute after a cross by left back Grimaldo wasn’t cleared properly, and ended up on the feet of Gedson, who was lurking outside the area. He attempted the shot but Barkas saved, only for Seferovic to pounce on the rebound and open the score. As if that wasn’t enough of a downer for the home crowd, the ‘eagles’ of Lisbon struck again on the 15th, when a nice exchange of passes between their players saw Pizzi make a deep cross looking for Grimaldo in the far post, who snuck behind the AEK defence and easily headed the ball past Barkas. And just when everyone had started to think that things could get really ugly for AEK, a lifeline appeared, as they slowly gained momentum and started to hold on to the ball for longer periods of time and create chances. On the 39th minute, Klonaridis found himself in the area but instead of giving the ball to Bakasetas who was alone with the goal, he opted to shoot, missing a huge opportunity.

During extra time of the first half, things changed in the game as defender Ruben Dias left his team with ten players after receiving a red card for dangerous defending on Ezequiel Ponce. This made the home team chase a goal with even more urgency and they found it very early in the second half through Klonaridis on the 53rd, after a series of attempts on the Benfica goal. Ten minutes later (63′) it was Klonaridis again who sent a wave of jubilation across the Olympic Stadium of Athens, as a cross from the right found the head of Ikonomou, who passed it to the striker that had no issues putting it past Vlachodimos.

However on the 73rd, it was the Greek keeper that came out on top, as Bakasetas made a clever through ball toward Klonaridis, pitting him up against Vlachodimos, with the Benfica player showing his great reflexes. And just as AEK were looking for the goal that would give them the win, substitute Semedo pinched the ball in midfield and with a long run and tricky shot, scored a most crucial goal to crush the hopes for the fans of the home side.

Now AEK faces the daunting task of having to take points from European giants Bayern Munich if they wish to stay alive in the group, as they currently have zero points from two games.
Bayern themselves were held to a 1-1 draw at home against Ajax in the other game of the group, which means that there’s currently a triple occupation of first place in group E, as Benfica, Bayern and Ajax all have four points each.

REAL CRASHES IN MOSCOW, MOURINHO’S WOES CONTINUE

In other games for day two of the Champions League, Real Madrid travelled to Moscow without many of their key players in their squad and as a result they suffered a 1-0 defeat at the hands of CSKA. Jose Mourinho’s troubles seem to be never-ending in Manchester, with United being stuck to a goalless draw against Spanish side Valencia.

Meanwhile, Manchester City may have been shocked with an early goal by Hoffenheim in Germany, but they managed to escape with the three points (1-2) thanks to a late David Silva scorcher, as Lyon came from two goals behind to claim a 2-2 draw against Shakhtar Donetsk in France.

All seems to be going well for the Italian sides as Juventus beat Young Boys with 3-0 thanks to a Paolo Dybala hat-trick, AS Roma annihilated Viktoria Plzen 5-0 with striker Edin Dzeko accomplishing a similar feat and Napoli coming out on top against Liverpool at San Paolo in the big game of group C, thanks to a goal by Lorenzo Insigne on the final minute of the tie.

Barcelona made a demonstration of strength in London, as they had no problems against Tottenham who they demolished 2-4 with Lionel Messi adding another two goals to his tally and Inter Milan also have ‘two-out-of-two’, after they came from behind to claim the three points against PSV in Philips Stadion.

Paris SG demolished Red Star 6-1 in the Parc des Princes (one of the game’s highlights was when Neymar dribbled the ball past Aussie full back Milos Degenek) and both Dortmund and Atletico Madrid had an easy night against AS Monaco (3-0) and Club Brugge (3-1) respectively.

Porto claimed a 1-0 victory at home against Galatasaray, while Schalke accomplished a similar feat in Moscow against Locomotiv.