Benfica 3-0 Hearts at half-time: Rafa Silva, Araújo and Pavlidis on target

Benfica built a commanding 3-0 lead over Hearts in the first half of their match, with three goals inside the opening 42 minutes. Rafa Silva opened the scoring in the 3rd minute, converting a cut-back from Leandro Barreiro on the right of the area for his 2nd goal in the competition (3 games) and his 102nd for the club (347 games). Tomás Araújo doubled the advantage in the 23rd minute, heading in a Georgiy Sudakov corner for his 1st goal in the competition (1 game) and 4th for Benfica (107 games). The Hearts goalkeeper got a hand to it but could not keep it out.

Vangelis Pavlidis added a third from the penalty spot in the 42nd minute after Laurent Mendy pulled Gianluca Prestianni's shirt inside the box. Pavlidis struck firmly down the middle as the Hearts keeper dived to his right. It was his 5th goal in the competition (3 games) and 65th for the club (113 games). A fourth Benfica goal was disallowed in the 45th minute when Pavlidis, set up by a Leandro Barreiro flick, was ruled offside.

Hearts came closest to scoring in the 34th minute, when Laurent Mendy headed against the crossbar after a poor exit by Benfica goalkeeper Samuel Soares. Earlier, Barreiro had a shot saved by Beau Reus in the 5th minute and Prestianni tested the keeper in the 11th after dribbling into the area from the left. The article describes Benfica, under coach Marco Silva, as clearly superior throughout the first half, maintaining dangerous approaches and high rotation up to the interval.