Proud Vitoria admits Dortmund were better than Benfica

Benfica head coach Rui Vitoria felt Borussia Dortmund were the better side in their Champions League encounter on Tuesday but was proud of his team for edging a 1-0 victory.

Kostas Mitroglou scored the only goal of the game as the Primeira Liga leaders overcame a wasteful Dortmund in the first leg of their last-16 tie at the Estadio da Luz

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang failed to convert a penalty in the second half and spurned a pair of gilt-edged chances to score an away goal, and Vitoria admitted it was hard going at times.

“To play with these teams, we have to have the ability of suffering on the edge,” he said. “We ended up scoring a goal from a situation on which we have worked.

“It was a tasty victory for sure. The players were relentless and we achieved an important result because it was essential not to concede goals.

“Speaking of justice after a game like this is tricky. I agree that Dortmund is a strong opponent and that they had the best of this game.

“We had some difficulties on the way out to the attack, but we know what we have to do in the second leg. Scoring a goal will have a huge impact.”

Huge team effort, once more great support by the fans, very, very important win tonight! Well done to everyone! @SLBenfica #CarregaBenfica pic.twitter.com/5ljR45hn7a

— Kostas Mitroglou (@kmitroglou) February 14, 2017

Goalkeeper Ederson pulled off a string of impressive saves to keep his side in the lead, including denying Aubameyang from the spot, but insisted a team effort got the win.

“We were anticipating an open game and that was confirmed,” he said. “I pulled off several good saves but I don’t think I was the hero.

“The whole team was, and that was one of the keys for our success.”