Benfica will return a 2-0 advantage to Portugal after beating Nice in the first stage of their third qualifying round for the UEFA Champions League (UCL), which means that the Agius is now unbeaten in the regulation time in their last 19 games (W13, D6).
After he was fourth in Ligue, NICE earned, Nice to introduce UCL qualification in the third round, opposite Benfica in what their first competitive meeting was.
The Portuguese side also arrives in this qualification phase, but after he participated in the FIFA Club World Cup, this fixture came in with recent competitive matches under their belt, and that sharpness seemed to be on their side when Andreas Schjelderup came in early.
Les Aiglons, however, quickly showed its own threat, with Terem Moffi almost closed a rapid transition.
An attempt of 20 minutes in broke almost the impasse, but Richard Rios could not beat Yehvann Diouf with his set piece strike, leaving the game scoreless.
With the peace, Benfica again caused the beautiful defense problems, and only a great Diouf-stop denied Vangelis Pavlidis the opener.
An entertaining half eventually ended as aimless, where Benfica needed a goal after the break if they would expand their 20-game score streak in all competitions.
Nice's last nine home developments in the European competition had seen both parties score, and they started the second period positively when they wanted to sustain their end of the bargain.
With 53 minutes on the clock, however, the road grabbed the advantage thanks to a brilliant search for the cross of Fredrik Aurnes that Franjo Ivanovic found, who came to the play.
Diouf then had to be alert to keep the low drive of Ivanovic minutes later, so that it is nice to get a foothold in the procedure.
Nevertheless, the French side could not restore the parity in the remaining half-hour, rarely the backline of Bruno low-disturbing, and after defending resolute, a late bloom from the outstanding side led to a second goal when Florentino led a rocket from the reach of a first-leg.
As a result, Benfica goes into the second stage as sturdy favorites, stimulated by their report from progress to the UCL Knockouts in three of the last four seasons.
Regarding Nice, they will have a tough task because they look to destroy a shortage of two goals between them and a first performance in Europe's Premier Club competition since 1959/60.