Vangelis Pavlidis' clever finish put Benfica 1-0 to the good in their Champions League knockout phase playoff against 10-man Monaco.

The Greece striker scored the only goal of the first leg at Stade Louis II, where the hosts saw Al Musrati dismissed for two bookable offences.

Both sides went close during a goalless first half, with Maghnes Akliouche and Alvaro Carreras going the closest to scoring.

However, the deadlock was broken within three minutes of the restart, as Pavlidis delicately lifted the ball over Monaco goalkeeper Radoslaw Majecki from a tight angle.

The hosts were reduced to 10 men four minutes later with Musrati shown a second yellow card for dissent.

Benfica looked to capitalise on their numerical advantage as Pavlidis was denied by Majecki, but the single goal was enough to secure an advantage ahead of next week's second leg in Lisbon.

Data Debrief: Three in a row for Benfica while Silva breaks Ronaldo record

Benfica have won three successive Champions League away games for the first time, last achieving the feat in Europe's top club competition in 1989-90.

Their total of 23 shots was their most in a Champions League away match since registering 25 against Hapoel Tel Aviv in November 2010.

The most decisive of those attempts saw Pavlidis score his sixth goal in this season's competition, with Antonis Antoniadis (10 in 1970-71) the only Greek player to net more in a single European Cup/Champions League campaign.

Meanwhile, the hosts have now lost seven of their nine games in the competition against Portuguese opposition.

Their task was made all the more difficult following the dismissal of Musrati, who was the first Monaco player to be sent off on their Champions League debut since Ousmane Dabo against Galatasaray in September 2000.

On a brighter note, at 21 years and 105 days old, Antonio Silva became the youngest Portuguese player to make 20 Champions League appearances, breaking Cristiano Ronaldo's record (21 years, 254 days).