Nunez stars as Benfica stun Ajax to enter quarters

Benfica’s Darwin Nunez is ecstatic after scoring against Ajax on Tuesday. Pic/AFP

Darwin Nunez headed home in the 77th minute as Benfica stunned Ajax to reach the Champions League quarter-finals on Tuesday, winning the second leg of their Last-16 tie 1-0 here to advance 3-2 on aggregate. The Portuguese side had not managed a single attempt on target until Uruguayan striker Nunez beat goalkeeper Andre Onana to Alex Grimaldo's free-kick and headed in to silence the Johan Cruyff Arena.

Ajax, who had dominated the first half, could not recover from that blow and go out while two-time European Cup winners Benfica look forward to Friday's draw for the quarter-finals. Having sent Barcelona packing in the group stage, they will now appear in the Last-8 for the first time since 2016. "We are among the eight best teams in Europe. The team worked so hard to achieve this against really difficult opponents," said Benfica coach Nelson Verissimo.

Ajax's star striker, Sebastien Haller, had been hoping to score in an eighth consecutive Champions League game this season having netted a remarkable 11 goals in his first seven appearances in the competition. Yet he was upstaged by Nunez as Benfica's own prolific forward found the target for the 26th time in all competitions since the start of the campaign. "We were not good enough in either box. We should have scored, but didn't take our chances and then we conceded an avoidable goal," Haller told broadcaster Canal Plus.

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