Benfica ended Borussia Dortmund's 100 per cent start at the International Champions Cup as they triumphed 4-3 on penalties.

Portuguese giants Benfica overturned a two-goal deficit to salvage a 2-2 draw before surviving a shoot-out in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Wednesday.

Benfica rallied after the break following two first-half from Dortmund's Maximilian Philipp had the Bundesliga side in control – Andre Almeida and Alfa Semedo restoring parity before Eduardo Salvio struck the decisive blow on penalties.

The result ended Dortmund's run of back-to-back wins over Liverpool and Manchester City at the pre-season tournament in the United States, while Benfica avoided defeat in their ICC opener.

Dortmund started slowly as Pizzi fired a free-kick wide, before Omer Toprak came under pressure in his six-yard box to scramble clear.

The German outfit grew into the game, though, and opened the scoring in the 20th minute when Mario Gotze and Jacob Bruun Larsen played a one-two in the area, before Philipp poked home the latter's cross.

Two minutes later it was 2-0 as Philipp latched onto Gotze's pass and volleyed in to double Dortmund's lead.

The former Freiburg striker nearly had a first-half hat-trick as Christian Pulisic crossed to the back post, but Ruben Dias cleared with Philipp lurking.

Dortmund withdrew Pulisic, who scored twice against Liverpool, along with Marcel Schmelzer at half-time, while Benfica changed their front three and halved the deficit six minutes into the second half.

Pizzi's pass was perfectly weighted into the path of Almeida, who hit the ball first time into the far corner beyond Marwin Hitz.

A flurry of changes were made by both teams midway through the second half, but it was a Benfica substitute who levelled the score as Semedo scored at the second attempt, having only arrived on the field three minutes prior.

Franco Cervi and Salvio combined with five minutes remaining, but the Argentina latter was unable to make good contact with his header, before Dortmund's English prospect Jadon Sancho curled wide as the game went to a penalty shoot-out.

Sergio Gomez missed first for Dortmund in the shoot-out with Jonas blasting the ball into the top corner to give Benfica the advantage.

Alexander Isak's penalty was then saved by Mile Svilar before Salvio slotted home calmly to win it for the Eagles.