Ahead of Benfica’s Thursday night clash with Tottenham, both Chelsea and Manchester United sent scouts to the Estadio da Luz to watch centre back Ezequiel Garay.
The Argentine got the opening goal of the second leg as benfica went on to knock Spurs out 5-3 on aggregate. His defensive partnership with Brazilian Luisao has been a crucial area of Benfica’s team which has seen the Lisbon side to the top of the Portuguese league and pushing for the title.
United are known to be long term admirers of Garay but the 27 year old blamed last summer’s instability for his deal with the Old Trafford side never being reached. Now with Chelsea in the race to sign the defender, there is new competition for a player who is open to a Premier League move.
Tottenham hit back though on Thursday night with two goals for Nacer Chadli to lead 2-1 on the night but a late Lima penalty settled the tie and Benfica are through to the last 8 of the tournament, maintaining Benfica’s impressive run of staying unbeaten at home since October 2012.
Following the match Garay said: “We knew what awaited us was a hard game but we showed that we were prepared for any eventuality.”
By Phil Wellbrook
