Benfica manager, Jose Mourinho, has admitted he had to take risks in their 4-2 win over Real Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday night.
Goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin scored a last-gasp goal, to ensure the Portuguese club beat Marseille to the last play-off spot.
With the game delicately poised at 3-2, a goal for Madrid would have seen the LaLiga giants claim the final automatic qualification spot ahead of Manchester City.
“Winning or losing games in the final moment, with the final play, has happened various times, but to win you need to take risks,” Mourinho told UEFA.
“You think it arrives but then it doesn’t, so then you have to change a few things.
“In the end one ball [for them] could make it 3-3. And with that we would still be out.
“To win against Real Madrid carries importance and is significant. In that moment we had to give it everything.”
On Trubin’s goal, Mourinho added: “We knew he could do it.
“In the game at the Dragao [two weeks ago],Trubin was also there in the final action and headed it but a Porto player blocked it.
“You have to put the ball in there. It was a spectacular goal that independent of our future in the competition, puts us into the next round, and was a moment of history against Real Madrid.
“It is important for a few reasons, economically important for Benfica, and even more so from a prestige point of view.”