Fenerbahce centre-back Joseph Yobo has praised the club's fans following the 1-0 victory against Benfica in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final.

Yobo said that the key consideration from the home leg was to not concede, but did feel that his side should have won by more goals.

"It was a joy to play in this atmosphere – this is something we need to thank our fans for," UEFA.com quotes Yobo as saying. "Of course we've got every reason to rejoice over the win, especially having kept a clean sheet.

"Everybody knows the importance of not conceding a goal at home in this sort of competition. We had the chances to score more, but still the result is something to be proud of.

"Benfica are a very good team – I give them a lot of credit – but today we deserved to win. Everbody can miss a penalty like we did tonight, but afterwards we showed character, and did not allow ourselves to be discouraged."

Egemen Korkmaz finally got the breakthrough for the hosts on 71 minutes.