Soccer Football - Champions League - Benfica v Atletico Madrid - Estadio da Luz, Lisbon, Portugal - October 2, 2024 Benfica players celebrate after Kerem Akturkoglu scores their first goal REUTERS/Pedro Nunes
LISBON (Reuters) -Benfica's Kerem Akturkoglu, Angel Di Maria, Alexander Bah and Orkun Kokcu scored in a 4-0 demolition of Atletico Madrid on Wednesday to start their Champions League campaign with two consecutive wins.
A mistake by Atletico's defence helped Akturkoglu open the scoring in the 13th minute and, after the hosts squandered several chances, including a strike off the post by Vangelis Pavlidis, another error ended with a penalty which Di Maria converted.
Bah extended Benfica's lead with a header from a corner in the 75th minute and Kokcu completed the rout against Diego Simeone's side from the penalty spot after Reinildo Mandava fouled substitute Zewki Amdouni.
Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak made a couple of stunning saves to deny late efforts which saved the visitors from a even worse humiliation.
"It's pitiful to lose like this, it's not a good image to give and there's not much more to say. We weren't good today, to say the least," Oblak told Spanish television Movistar Plus.
"Sometimes games like this happen, but we can't afford it because we gave an woeful impression today. I don't have a single positive thing I can say today.
"We didn't show up and there's not much more to say. Nobody is saved from what happened today, we have to accept it and move forward."
Roared on by a sold-out Estadio da Luz, Benfica started pressing Atletico high and a string of errors allowed Fredrik Aursnes to recover a loose ball and tee up Akturkoglu to score the opener past the onrushing Oblak.
Simeone made three substitutions after the break but Benfica took full control and extended their lead through Di Maria from the spot after a mistake by defender Nahuel Molina.
Benfica wasted several chances before Bah scored the third with an easy header from a corner after Conor Gallagher left him unmarked inside the six-yard-box.
Kokcu added the fourth from the spot after substitute Zewki Amdouni was fouled by Reinildo Mandava and Oblak saved Atletico from an even heavier loss with several good late saves.
(Reporting by Fernando Kallas, editing by Ed Osmond)
