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* South American duo give Benfica victory

* Ajax thrash Anderlecht, Twente beat Rubin

* Leverkusen overwhelm Metalist Kharkiv

By Brian Homewood

BERNE, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Benfica scored twice in the final 20 minutes to beat visitors VfB Stuttgart 2-1 in their Europa League last 32 tie on Thursday while Dutch sides Ajax Amsterdam and Twente Enschede enjoyed impressive away wins.

Ajax won 3-0 at Anderlecht in their first leg while Twente were among several teams who endured freezing conditions in eastern Europe, beating Rubin Kazan 2-0 in Moscow where the temperature hovered around minus 15 Celsius during the game.

Stuttgart’s impressive European form has been in marked contrast to their shaky Bundesliga performances this season and Martin Harnik gave them a first-half lead in Lisbon.

But Benfica hit back as Paraguay striker Oscar Cardozo, one of eight South Americans in their starting lineup, levelled in the 70th minute and Argentine Franco Jara grabbed the winner with nine minutes left.

Ajax made light of Luis Suarez’s absence—the Uruguay forward having been sold to Liverpool in the January transfer window—as Tony Alderweireld, Christian Eriksen and Mounir El Hamdaoui shared the goals at Anderlecht.

Late strikes from Twente’s Luuk de Jong, standing in for injured forward Marc Janko, and captain Peter Wisgerhof gave the Dutch side their win in Russia.

Bayer Leverkusen also had to contend with bitter conditions in Ukraine as they thumped Metalist Kharkiv 4-0.

Eren Derdiyok and Gonzalo Castro scored either side of halftime before Sidney Sam got two more for the Bundesliga side.

Metalist’s compatriots Dynamo Kiev enjoyed contrasting fortune as they won 4-1 at Besiktas with former AC Milan and Chelsea striker Andriy Shevchenko among the scorers.

(Editing by Ken Ferris; To comment on this story: sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

Labels: Benfica, Dutch, Reuters, snatch, victory