Two more Portuguese clubs have advanced in Europe after positive Benfica and Sporting CP results on Wednesday night.

Benfica went to Italy and recorded an impressive 2-0 victory at Juventus thanks to goals by Pavlidis and Kokcu. They finish in 16th place and will play either Monaco or Brest in the knockout round.

Sporting played to a 1-1 draw at home against Bologna thanks to a goal by Conrad Harder (77′) who replaced the injured Gyökeres. Sporting finish in 23rd place and will play tough German opposition Dortmund or Bayern.

Both Lisbon rivals will join Vitória SC in qualifying for Europe. Vitória SC finished top 8 in the Europa Conference League and has already advanced to the Round of 16.

The result tonight for Benfica may help lessen the pressure on Bruno Lage after the recent leaked audio controversy.

Club president Rui Costa was happy with the result.

“It’s yet another demonstration that this team has a lot of strength, and quality and that it can have a very good year. We have a lot of competitions to play, we’re committed and we’re going to fight for all of them. Maximum confidence in the work of this team and I’m sure the fans will be there for us,” said Costa.

Sporting CP started this competition strong under Ruben Amorim and while at one point they were in the position to finish in the top eight, they survived and qualified for the knockout round.

Rui Borges was happy to qualify.

“Quite honestly, it was as we expected. The concern was whether we would be at our best physically and could match the intensity. A team that goes man to man all over the field, very athletic, well prepared, with nothing to lose. Our players are not 100 percent and it showed. But we were equalizing these duels. We ended up having the misfortune of conceding a set piece. Otherwise, we were quite competent,” said Borges.

João Simões was named the Man of the Match in tonight’s draw.