Schalke beats Benfica 2-0 in Champions League

Posted Thursday, September 30, 2010 by YAHOO Sport

GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany (AP)—Jefferson Farfan and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar scored late to give Schalke a 2-0 victory over Benfica on Wednesday for the German club’s first win in the Champions League this season.

Schalke had two goals ruled out for offsides in the first 17 minutes, and Raul Gonzalez hit the left post in the 41st.

But Farfan finally broke the deadlock in the 73rd and Huntelaar secured the win by poking home Jermaine Jones’ cross from the left side in the 85th.

“It was a very difficult match,” Schalke coach Felix Magath said. “They have an excellent team. It took us some time to get into the game and in the end I think we deserved to win.”

Schalke had lost its first five Bundesliga and Champions League games this season but now has two wins and a draw in its last three contests. This was the team’s first home victory all season, giving Magath’s team three points in Group B, pulling it even with Benfica after two rounds. Lyon leads

“It’s a special evening and ends a long stretch without a win at home,” Schalke defender Christoph Metzelder said. “Wins help the confidence.”

The Portuguese started the match on the attack, knowing that Schalke has struggled this season in the backline with Atsuto Uchida and Kyriakos Papadopoulos replacing the suspended Benedikt Hoewedes and Nicolas Plestan.

And Schalke’s Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer had to make two good saves on corner kicks in the seventh minute

Joel Matip thought he had scored at the other end two minutes later but was ruled offside. Benfica missed a good chance to take the lead in the 14th but Javier Saviola shot wide left from six yards out. Schalke had its second disallowed goal in the 17th when Farfan was narrowly ruled offside.

The hosts nearly took the lead four minutes from the break but Raul’s right-foot shot struck the left upright and Benfica keeper Roberto made a good save on Ivan Rakitic’s rebound attempt.

Schalke stabilized its defense and had more ball possession in the second half and opened the scoring when an unmarked Farfan met Lukas Schmitz’s cross from the left side and blasted the ball past Roberto to the far left post.

Benfica attempted to push forward in search of an equalizer, but Schalke instead secured the win when Raul snatched the ball from David Luiz and fed Jones, who crossed into the middle where Huntelaar poked home the second goal.

“Raul did it very well, but the whole team was better in the second half. And that’s what’s important,” said Huntelaar, who scored in his fourth straight game for Schalke.

Benfica’s next match in the group is at Lyon on Oct. 20, when Schalke will host Hapoel Tel Aviv.