Fourth official Magnus Sjoblom even needed the help of one of the assistant referees to separate them after Benfica scored their third away goal.

Both men refused to shake hands at the final whistle. But that reflected more badly on Sherwood than his opposite number. The Spurs boss looks out of his depth right now.

Benfica's opener in the 29th minute was all too easy. Spurs lost the ball in the attacking third and the ball broke to Ruben Amorim, who stormed through the middle unchecked.

His pass split the Spurs defence in two and Rodrigo was on it in a flash, racing in behind Kyle Naughton before taking one touch and then finding the far corner with a lovely finish.

Jesus liked that, and celebrated right in front of Sherwood, dancing a bizarre jig up and down on the touchline.

Unbeaten since November and seven points clear in their domestic league, Benfica looked a slick outfit, and by half time they had total control of this game.

There was already a smattering of boos as the home side trudged off the pitch at the break. They had barely troubled Jan Oblak in the away goal.

Spurs were full of running but it just wasn't working, with surprise starter Harry Kane utterly anonymous up front and Emmanuel Adebayor starved of any decent service.

The Togo striker finally came to life shortly after the break but when the ball fell to him in a good position he dragged his shot harmlessly across goal.

Aaron Lennon was next to try his luck for Spurs but his weak long-range effort was easily held by Oblak. It was Tottenham's first shot on target and it had taken 52 minutes to arrive.

Spurs had Hugo Lloris to thank for a fingertip save from Amorim after a mistake by Kane, but they went further behind from the resulting corner.

Amorim took it, and Luisao buried it with a free header on the edge of the six-yard box.

Eriksen did give Spurs hope shortly afterwards, with Kane winning a free kick on the edge of the opposition penalty area, and the Dane hitting a sweet dipping shot into the top corner.

But a rousing fightback never looked on, and Benfica scored again when a shaky Lloris palmed out a header by Ezequiel Garay for Luisao to slam home off the underside of the bar. Then the boos rang out in earnest...