Rangers have crashed out of Europe after a Rafa Silva goal at Ibrox killed off their dream of a Dublin final.
It was the Portuguese outfit who seemed to settle in the game the quicker, with an earlier than usual kick-off time of 5.45pm.
Despite the raucous atmosphere at Ibrox, Benfica were not fazed, controlling the early possession and looking dangerous on the counter attack.
However, Rodger Schmidt’s men failed to capitalise on this early possession, allowing the home side to settle into the game and begin to create chances of their own.
Tom Lawrence came close to the opener in the 12th minute when Benfica goalkeeper Trubin made a mess of the Englishman’s tame strike from close range.
However, it was in the 39th minute when Rangers had the best chance of the half. A quick counter-attack which stemmed from a Benfica corner saw Cyriel Dessers one-on-one with Trubin.
Despite being offside in the build-up, the Ibrox crowd were clear in their emotions towards the Nigeria striker after he failed to find the back of the net.
Both sides were in desperate need of a break after an electric opening 45 minutes with the score line level at the interval.
Philippe Clement’s side picked up where they left off in the second half with Cyriel Dessers creating numerous chances for the hosts in the opening 5 minutes.
Despite the early chances in the half, Rangers struggled to create any sort of fluidity in possession and were ultimately punished in the 66th minute.
A counter-attack which all started from a Rangers corner allowed Angel Di Maria to play Rafa Silva through one-on-one with Jack Butland, who proceeded to pick out the bottom left-hand corner.
The goal was immediately ruled out for offside by the linesman but after a lengthy VAR review, the goal was given.
With their goal advantage, it was the Portuguese side that looked the more likely to grab a second with Rangers continuing to see any attacking moves littered with mistakes.
The Ibrox crowd tried in vain to spur their team on to find an equaliser but Philippe Clement’s side was unable to find that all-important goal.
It’s a result that means Rangers’ quadruple dreams are over. For Benfica, they will await their Quarter-final opponents in Friday’s draw.
