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Benfica bidding to complete Dynamo double

Benfica came out on top at Dynamo Kyiv on matchday three, and another success at home to the Ukrainian club would leave the Portuguese side well placed in Group B.

Goalscorer Franco Cervi tangles with Danilo Silva on matchday three
Goalscorer Franco Cervi tangles with Danilo Silva on matchday three ©AFP/Getty Images

SL Benfica won the battle of the two sides previously winless in Group B on UEFA Champions League matchday three and will be hoping to cement their 2-0 away victory at FC Dynamo Kyiv with another three points at home.

• An early penalty from Eduardo Salvio and Franco Cervi's second-half effort took the Portuguese side to four points, behind SSC Napoli and Beşiktaş JK who have six and five respectively. Dynamo are on one point.

• If Dynamo lose and there is a winner in the Beşiktaş-Napoli fixture, Dynamo will be eliminated.

Previous meetings
• The sides had met once before this season, in the 1991/92 European Champion Clubs' Cup group stage when Dynamo won 1-0 at home. Nineteen-year-old Rui Costa came on as a substitute for Benfica.

• The line-ups in Lisbon on 1 April 1992 were:
Benfica: Barros, Ferreira, Madeira, Andrade, Veloso, Thern, Paneira (Costa 75), Pacheco (Isaías 59), Schwarz, Yuran, Brito. 
Dynamo: Martinkenas, Betsa, Tsveiba, Annenkov, Bessmertnyi, Gricina, Yakovenko, Zaets, Salenko, Kvitkauskas (Volotiok 46) , Sharan (Matvieiev 79).

• Oleh Salenko got the only goal for Victor Kolotov's team, but Sven-Göran Eriksson's Benfica well and truly turned the tables in the return, Brito and Sergei Yuran both scoring twice in a 5-0 win.

Match background

Benfica
• The Eagles had one of their own players to blame for their inability to take all three points on matchday one. Talisca, loaned to Beşiktaş, earned the Turkish visitors a 1-1 draw in Lisbon.

• Their second fixture found Benfica on the wrong end of a scintillating attacking display at Napoli, who took a 4-0 lead by the 58th minute. The Lisbon side made the scoreline respectable with two late goals.

• The Portuguese side won three of their five home games in last season's competition, losing 2-1 against Club Atlético de Madrid on matchday six. They were knocked out by FC Bayern München in the quarter-finals (0-1 away, 2-2 home).

• Benfica have lost two of their five home games against Ukrainian visitors, winning the other three. In a total of ten fixtures their overall record is W6 D0 L4.

Dynamo
• The Ukrainian champions won in Portugal in last season's group stage, beating FC Porto 2-0 with an Andriy Yarmolenko penalty and Derlis González securing the victory.

• It proved decisive in giving them a one-point advantage over the Portuguese side to finish in second place.

• Dynamo drew the home game 2-2 with Oleh Gusev and Vitaliy Buyalskiy on target. Overall they have played 19 games against Portuguese sides with the record W6 D4 L9 (W3 D1 L5 in Portugal).

• They began their 16th group stage campaign on the wrong foot, conceding two first-half headers from Arkadiusz Milik to go down 2-1 at home to Napoli. Denys Garmash had put the hosts ahead; Serhiy Sydorchuk was later sent off for two bookings.

• On matchday two, 18-year-old Viktor Tsygankov scored his first UEFA Champions League goal just three minutes into his second competition appearance to earn a 1-1 draw at Beşiktaş, their sole point so far.

• Before last season the Kyiv club had won only four of their 31 previous group stage fixtures. An improved campaign helped them add another three wins to that total as they reached the last 16 for the first time since 1999/2000.

• In addition to that Porto victory, in Group G last season they also won 2-0 away at Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC. They went out to Manchester City FC in the round of 16, losing 3-1 at home and by the same aggregate score after a goalless second leg.

Coach and player links
• Growing up, Antunes supported Benfica; he was a product of SC Freamunde and also played for FC Paços de Ferreira (two spells) and Leixões SC. He faced Benfica on two occasions – losing 3-1 with Paços in 2006/07 and 4-0 with Leixões in 2009/10.

• González played for Benfica U19s in 2012/13.

• Júnior Moraes replaced Jonas to make his first appearance for FC Santos in 2007.

• Played together:
Eliseu & Antunes (Málaga CF, 2012–14)
Andreas Samaris & Antunes (Panionios GSS, 2011/12)

• International team-mates:
Eliseu, Rafa Silva, André Almeida, Pizzi & Antunes (Portugal)

Match facts

Benfica
• The matchday two loss to Napoli is Benfica's only defeat in their last 23 games.

• Benfica chalked up a Portuguese record 16th consecutive away Liga win – bettering the mark the Eagles set under Jimmy Hagan between April 1972 and February 1973 – when they prevailed 2-0 at Os Belenenses on 23 October.

• Rui Vitória has won 51 of his 65 games in charge.

Dynamo
• Denys Garmash and Nikita Korzun will incur a suspension with their next bookings.

• Danilo Silva is likely to need surgery after sustaining a knee injury in the 1-1 draw against PFC Olexandriya on 23 October.

• Dynamo sealed their place in the Ukrainian Cup quarter-finals on 26 October, defeating FC Zorya Luhansk 5-2 after extra time. González and Júnior Moraes both scored twice.

• Oleksandr Tymchyk, 19, made his senior debut against Zorya, playing the whole 120 minutes.

• Following two consecutive league draws, Dynamo cut loose with a 4-1 win against FC Karpaty Lviv on Saturday; 20-year-olds Artem Besedin and Pavlo Orikhovskiy both scored their first Dynamo goals.

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