Group I round-up

Di Maria: Brace

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Benfica rubber-stamped their dominance of Group I with a 2-1 win over AEK Athens in their final group game.

Benfica were already assured of top-spot before the night's action, but they finished with victory - whilst second placed Everton signed off with defeat to BATE Borisov.

The home side's hero was once again Argentine star Angel Di Maria as he bagged a brace to seal the win.

Benfica had spurned a chance to go ahead early on when Carlos Araujo fouled Nuno Gomes in the area only for Felipe to fluff his lines from the penalty spot, striking the left upright as AEK escaped.

The Greek side began to come into the match after that let-off and Pantelis Kafes had the visitors' first chance of the night as he fired over from the edge of the area.

Just short of the half-hour AEK's Ismael Blanco drew the first save of the contest, his right-footed effort from inside the box forcing a smart diving stop from Julio Cesar.

Weldon and Fabio Coentrao went close for the hosts as Benfica began to assert their authority, and the breakthrough arrived in the final minute of the half.

Di Maria did all the work himself, picking the ball up in the midfield and firing a low left-footed effort home from 20 yards.

The highly-rated Argentina international almost doubled his tally nine minutes into the second period but saw an effort from the edge of the area rattle the crossbar.

Blanco almost pulled AEK level after 68 minutes when he saw an effort curl just the wrong side of the upright, and the hosts will have been frustrated to fall further behind just five minutes later.

Carlos Martins started the move with a pass from the right channel into 21-year-old Di Maria, who again underlined his burgeoning ability with a crisp finish into the bottom-right corner from the edge of the area.

To AEK's credit they continued to push forward in search of a goal and were almost rewarded on 77 minutes, Youssouf Hersi letting fly from long range but anguished to see the ball thud against the woodwork.

The Greeks were finally on the scoresheet six minutes from time as Blanco smuggled the ball over the line from six yards to set up a tense finale, but the hosts held on to progress to the knock-out stage on a high.