SL Benfica coach Fernando Santos believes the race for qualification from UEFA Champions League Group F is now wide open after seeing his side trim Celtic FC's advantage in second place to just two points with a convincing win. Visiting manager Gordon Strachan was at a loss to explain his team's performance and insists they must bounce back against Manchester United FC on Matchday 5.

Fernando Santos, Benfica coach
It was a positive night, we did well and produced a good display, not only in defence but also in attack. Today we were compact and attacked well. We started well and scored early, which is important, and then controlled the play until the half-hour. Then Celtic dominated until the break and we became a bit disorganised, but we defended well and held on. At the end we won, which was really the most important thing. Now we have two more finals to play, we are closer to Celtic and after the result of the other match FC København are also fighting for qualification. The group is now open to all four teams. If we beat København in the next match and Celtic fail to beat Manchester United we'll be in a good position.

Gordon Strachan, Celtic manager
I cantt explain what happen today, but we are disappointed. Now we didn’t talk much about it, we have to calm down and then talk about it at home. It was a poor performance from the players. We failed and nothing worked. Individual mistakes cost us dear. Benfica didn’t have too many chances in the first half but they took them. We were poor in the first half and in the second we took more risks to try a goal back. Still we are second favourites to go through and the result in København means there are three teams playing for second place.