Newly crowned Portuguese league champion Benfica is targeting its third consecutive final of the season when it travels to the Juventus Stadium in Turin on Thursday to face AntonioConte’s Juve in the second-leg of the Europa League semifinal. Jorge Jesus’ men have also reached both the Portuguese Cup and Portuguese League Cup finals thisseason after outlasting bitter rival FC Porto in the semifinal of both competitions, despite playing for more than an hour with ten men in each game.
Earlier this month, Benfica was crownedleague champion for the first time in four seasons. “It’s been a very gratifying season, we are in both finals in Portugal and still in the fight for the Europa League,” said Jesus, who nearly losthis job after a disappointing season last year.