Benfica vs. Barcelona
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Here come Benfica and Barcelona for the great matchup in the UEFA Champions League that will take place this coming Wednesday evening in Lisbon's famous Estádio da Luz. These teams await great positions in this competition, furnishing much appetite for good successes, as it would not be any match against mere opponents since historic presence demands them a bit spirited in European soccer. With an hour to go for kick-off, it is time for us to fall back into our match preview, team form, key players and predicted line-ups.
Read also: Liverpool vs Lille: Champions League Showdown at Anfield
Benfica Current Form and Objectives
Coming off the back of four successive wins across competitions, Benfica recover pretty well from their atrocious start to the Champions League campaign and currently lie at 15th in the league stage with 10 points, three adrift of Lille that presently lies at number eight. The stakes are thus all the higher for Benfica as they will make sure of qualification on automatic merits because a win will hugely push their case for direct qualification.
Benfica are in good form on their own backyard too. They are second in the Primeira Liga table, three points behind table-toppers Sporting Lisbon. The newly acquired 4-0 success over Famalicão underlined attacking solidity and solidity in the back of defense. Under manager Bruno Lage, they rely on their momentum into this crucial battle.
Their performance against Spanish sides in European games has been modest. Benfica remembers big victories: 3-0 at Barcelona in Champions League group games during the season 2021-22. The tally, however, stands otherwise when they play at home. Four wins and five draws except for five defeats cast out how poorly Benfica would perform when competing against a side like Barcelona.
History and Struggle of Barcelona
It has been a pretty smooth ride for Barcelona in the Champions League this season. Having won five of the six matches and lost only one, the Catalan side is placed in the second rung in the league phase with 15 points notched on the board-three behind the leaders Liverpool. A winner in Lisbon would strengthen their position and make it easier for them to tread their way into the knockout stages.
Though the Catalans had triumphed in Europe, home matters are still a bit uneven. They were only third in La Liga with seven points still between them and the league's front-runners Real Madrid. Barcelona has had quite a bad spell this season when they won just once in eight of their matches played in the league. Manager Hansi Flick will be looking for the team to redeem the local stakes, building on the successful recent Spanish Super Cup win and Copa del Rey quarterfinals run.
Barcelona have a great record against Portuguese opponents, but by no means an impeccable one. In 14 away games against Portuguese clubs, they have won six, drawn three, and lost five. Their only win at Benfica came in the 2012-13 Champions League group stage, a result they will be hoping to repeat again this season.
Players to Watch
Vangelis Pavlidis has been netting with grace throughout the campaign so far and the attacking combination at Benfica starts and finishes with him. MENTIONED HERE is Kerem AKTÜRKOĞLU With 10 Goals And Seven Assist. Then much of the inventive onus will fall on to his shoulders alongside Angel Di MARIA, subject he is deemed fit enough in the hour of implementation. Di Maria may well be difference-making alone himself given that thus far this season has garnered 13 goals and laid out seven assistances.
The midfielders Orkun Kökçü, Fredrik Aursnes, and Florentino Luís will ensure the supremacy to dominate the game's rhythm and to interrupt the opponent's rhythm. This wall of defense wants to be very well-organized, as this can happen when Nicolás Otamendi is with the rest to counter a threatening threat that might bring an end to their score.
For Barcelona, Robert Lewandowski will be there as a constant threat for putting away whatever softness Benfica's defense might be made of. Then, there is brilliance in attack with Lamine Yamal to be great both with skills and composure on the field, along with Gavi, who does perfectly well in this number 10 role.
The two marshaled midfield. Defence led by Jules Koundé and Ronald Araújo will do the needful to keep that door shut prior to Benfica's anticipated attack. And Peña comes in to substitute for Marc-André ter Stegen in goal. In this match that seemed to be designed to give some action package for the fans to watch, the guy Barcelona may have turned had been Peña.
Tactical Duel
That would be the kind of game where discipline meets fast transitions in spaces left exposed by Barcelona's high defensive line - the game Benfica wants to take from them. Wingers are going to play a very important role for Benfica, and Aktürkoğlu must have a great day in keeping the opposition defense deep, stretched enough for Pavlidis to reach in. This is supposed to be Benfica's time in order to inspect the aerial attack, mainly set plays, for Otamendi.
Flick has ensured that the team maintains possession play but fluid movement on the attacking flanks. At midfield, this will cause chaos in Benfica's well-organized game down the flank of full backs majorly Alejandro Balde and Koundé will support with width runs. The backline appears to be a place where Benfica might have the upper hand when class players are not holding down.
Team News and Likely Line-up
Benfica have some injury concerns - Tiago Gouveia and Renato Sanches are both out, while Di Maria is a huge issue, in the sense that without that player, he is going to go for his front three of Aktürkoğlu, Pavlidis, and Zeki Amdouni.
Benfica Likely Line-up
Trubin; Bah, Araujo, Otamendi, Fernández; Aursnes, Florentino, Kökçü; Amdouni, Pavlidis, Aktürkoğlu.
On the other side, Dani Olmo, Ter Stegen, Marc Bernal, and Íñigo Martínez will all miss this crucial match. Flick can very much play the same team that he led out against La Liga the last time around, and just let creativity and panache seep through the playing on the pitch for Gavi and Yamal to do the dirty work.
Starting line-up: Predicted one for Barcelona
Peña; Koundé, Araújo, Cubarsí, Balde; Casado, Pedri; Yamal, Gavi, Raphinha; Lewandowski.
Prediction
It is a closely contested game in which both teams have the quality that would scale the balance. The home ground of Benfica and the recent card performance might swing it for them. Barcelona's experience in Europe, greater depth, and more attacks make them such a big, strong challenger.
Many of those things are going to depend on the battle in midfield that will decide who is going to get the first breakthrough; if they get it early, Benfica will make them stretch out so long there'll be a gap, and they can just pull and start countering. But they're still letting Barcelona have all possession right now, so possession football's going to flatten their attacking spirit.
Prediction: Benfica 2-2 Barcelona.
This would mean that both teams stay in the hunt to go ahead and actually achieve the desired objectives each sought out in this year's Champions League, hence such an interesting way of ending this league phase.
