Benfica capitalised on a Domenico Criscito red card to grab a late goal in their 1-0 victory over Zenit on Tuesday.
The Italian defender picked up his second yellow card in the 90th minute and Jonas was on hand to head in the resultant free kick cross from Nicolas Gaitan.
It brought an end to a game which looked destined to fizzle out into a goalless draw, with neither side running away with it throughout the 90 minutes.
While both teams threatened in the first half, they were unable to find the breakthrough before the break, though Anre Villas-Boas would have been the happier coach of the two.
Benfica upped the tempo in the second half but were able to threaten in the final third and instead it was Zenit who enjoyed from long range from Azel Witsel and Hulk in the early periods of the second half, but to no avail.
The Portuguese side had the first real chance of the half when Nicolas Gaitan broke into a good scoring position but was denied by a fine save.
The sides continued to exchange chances throughout the remainder of the game but the turning point came right at the death with Criscito’s blunder allowing the hosts to go ahead.
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