TURIN, Italy (Reuters) – Benfica secured their place in the Champions League playoffs with a 2-0 win away to Juventus, who were already assured of their playoff spot coming into the final game of the league phase on Wednesday.
The opening goal came in the 16th minute when Vangelis Pavlidis put the visitors ahead and the Benfica striker could have doubled the lead before the break but for a fine save by Mattia Perin.
Benfica finished off the job 10 minutes from time with Orkun Kokcu netting, and they leap-frogged Juventus in the standings, moving on to 13 points, one ahead of the Italians.
Juventus came into the match highly unlikely to clinch a top-eight spot to qualify automatically for the last 16, even with a win, while Benfica had everything to play for and the hungrier side were rewarded with all three points.
(Reporting by Trevor Stynes; Editing by Toby Davis)
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