wolfsburg's benaglio ends sporting hopes published: thursday 26 february 2015, 23.04cet sporting clube de portugal 0-0 vfl wolfsburg (agg: 0-2) diego benaglio was in outstanding form as the swiss goalkeeper helped the visitors repel marco silva's men to advance in professional style.
• wolfsburg through to round of 16 for first time since 2009/10 • no goals in lisbon as german side survive sporting barrage • diego benaglio outstanding in wolves goal, making numerous excellent saves • junya tanaka hits woodwork for hosts, kevin de bruyne for visitors • follow friday's round of 16 draw on uefa.com, with live streaming from 13.00cet
vfl wolfsburg completed a professional job in lisbon as they kept out a dangerous sporting clube de portugal to guarantee a round of 16 spot.
they may have been seen off in germany last week but the hosts are a different animal in the josé alvalade – having not lost any of their previous 19 uefa europa league home games – and threw everything at the visitors in the first half. william carvalho's powerful effort from distance looked destined for the top corner until diego benaglio's fingertips diverted it wide.
tobias figueiredo's header from a left-side corner was cleared off the line by christian träsch then junya tanaka was slipped clear but benaglio smartly denied the japanese forward while defensive bodies smothered the follow up from adrien silva. the wolfsburg no1's body sent tanaka's next effort onto the post.
kevin de bruyne almost put the tie beyond sporting after the restart but his low, skimming effort cannoned back off the post. the game quickly fell back into the pattern seen in the first 45 minutes as the in-form benaglio kept out nani's powerful shot with his feet and andré carrillo crashed a shot over the bar for the hosts. substitute ıslam slimani saw a goalbound header scrambled to safety and benaglio had time to make one more outstanding stop from tanaka to secure the result and put wolfsburg into friday's draw.
