In the first half, the difference in level was as big as expected, as AGF were overrun by Benfica on Thursday evening in the Europa League play-off round.
However, the Aarhus side escaped the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, with a 1–3 defeat. The margin of defeat could have been much wider, but it ended at a two-goal deficit, primarily thanks to AGF goalkeeper Mads Hedenstad and the fact that Benfica eased off in the second half.
In a week's time, AGF will attempt a difficult comeback in the return leg at their temporary European home ground in Randers.
Just 82 seconds had been played when Rafa Silva put Benfica ahead following a couple of failed AGF clearances. AGF had not even managed to get the ball under control by that point.
That marked the start of an all-out assault on the Aarhus goal. Had it not been for goalkeeper Mads Hedenstad, AGF would have been trailing by several goals within the first ten minutes.
The agile Norwegian keeper denied several clear-cut chances, but there was little he could do about the goal that made it 2–0.
Once again, AGF failed to clear the ball. Colin Rösler looked clumsy, to put it mildly, on the goal line as Leandro Barreiro extended Benfica's lead. AGF rarely ventured into the Portuguese half, but one of those few forays paid off.
During a counter-attack, Jacob Andersen set the ball up beautifully for Sebastian Jorgensen, who pulled a goal back. However, an Aarhus comeback didn't look likely, and things went wrong again shortly before halftime when the home side was awarded a penalty after Tobias Bech had touched the ball with his arm in the box.
Vangelis Pavlidis blasted the resulting penalty into the corner of the net. Benfica managed a staggering 21 attempts in the first half.
In the second half, Benfica attacked with far less energy and intensity, yet still created several good chances. Hedenstad, however, was undeterred by having picked the ball out of his net three times; he continued to pull off some fine saves.
He also denied Andreas Schjelderup—the goalkeeper's fellow countryman—when the Benfica substitute came on and tried his luck. Thanks to the man in goal, a faint hope of reaching the Europa League remains for AGF heading into the return leg.