Verdict: Home win
Best odds: 23/20
Bookmaker: Betfair
The Champions League campaign is about to enter its quarterfinals phase, and as Manchester City host Bayern Munich on Tuesday evening, Benfica will welcome Inter Milan to their Estadio da Luz in Lisbon for the first leg at the same time.
Benfica
At the start of the season, Benfica were drawn in a very difficult Group H, where apart from Maccabi Haifa, they were to face the likes of Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain. Many saw them as nailed-on to drop to the Europa League after the first stage, but they managed to win the group, remaining undefeated throughout. The draw was far more kind to them in the round of 16 when Club Brugge were named as their opponent, and they didn’t have too many problems with getting past that hurdle to get where they are.
Back in Portugal, Benfica top the Primeira Liga table in relative comfort, with seven points separating them from FC Porto in second place, nine from Braga in third, and 14 from city rivals Sporting Lisbon in fourth. Their last triumph in the league happened in 2018/19, and it seems the title drought is about to stop at four years. There is, of course, seven rounds to go yet and Porto surely won’t give up just yet, and neither will Braga.
Porto might’ve been forced to give up had they been beaten at the Luz on Friday, but their 1-2 triumph in Lisbon put a stop to Benfica’s marvelous run of eight wins in their last eight matches in all competitions. The last-six run of Roger Schmidt’s team also consists of a 2-0 home win over Famalicao, a 5-1 home win over Brugge, a 0-3 win away to Maritimo, a 5-1 win over Vitoria SC, and a 0-1 win away to Rio Ave.
Team News
Forwards Goncalo Guedes (knee) and Julian Draxler (ankle) are unavailable for Tuesday, as is defender Nicolas Otamendi through suspension. Having gone off injured after 26 minutes against Porto, defender Alexander Bah is a doubt.
Odysseas Vlachodimos will be between the posts. In the absence of Otamendi, Antonio Silva is expected to be joined by Lucas Verissimo in the heart of defence, with Alex Grimaldo on the left and Gilberto on the right, if Bah is unavailable. Florentino Luis and Chiquinho will pair up in the middle of the park, with the trio of Rafa Silva, Joao Mario and Fredrik Aursnes supporting striker Goncalo Ramos upfront.
Inter Milan
Inter earned their place in the knockout stages of the Champions League by finishing second to Bayern Munich in Group C, leaving Spanish giants Barcelona to drop down to the lower tier and Czech side Viktoria Plzen to end their European adventure. Just like with Benfica, not many deemed them capable of getting through to the round of 16, but they not only got there, they moved past it at the expense of Benfica’s great domestic rivals Porto.
That experience, coupled with Porto’s triumph over Benfica a couple of days ago, will provide head coach Simone Inzaghi with invaluable information ahead of this clash.
Over in the Serie A, however, things haven’t been going Inter’s way at all in the last couple of weeks. Until quite recently, they held the second place, behind runaway leaders Napoli, quite firmly, but several blips since have seen them surrender it to Lazio first, and now, they’ve been overtaken by AS Roma and city rivals AC Milan as well. They’re obviously out of the top four at the moment, sitting 23 points behind Napoli, seven behind Lazio, two behind Roma and one behind Milan, and they have Atalanta just three points below, Juventus five. From a position of control, the Nerazzurri now face an uphill battle to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
Further more, Inzaghi could soon find himself in trouble if the results don’t improve quickly. His men have no victories in the last six matches in all competitions, a damning fact for a team of such individual quality. They lost 2-1 away to Spezia, drew 0-0 away to Porto, lost 0-1 at home to Juventus and then Fiorentina too, drew 1-1 away to Juventus in the first leg of the Coppa Italia semifinals, and eventually drew 1-1 away to Salernitana as well.
Team News
Defender Milan Skriniar (back) and midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu (groin) are currently named as doubts for the Lisbon match, though neither has been ruled out yet.
Andre Onana will be in goal, with Danilo D’Ambrosio most likely joining Stefan de Vrij and Alessandro Bastoni in the back line of three. Calhanoglu’s role will probably be covered by Henrikh Mkhitaryan, alongside Marcelo Brozovic and Nicolo Barella in the middle of the park. The flanks will be covered by Matteo Darmian and Federico Dimarco, though Denzel Dumfries and Robin Gosens will be hoping it turns out otherwise. Upfront, Lautaro Martinez will probably have Edin Dzeko with him, ahead of Romelu Lukaku.
Conclusion
Things obviously aren’t going too well for Inter at the moment, and the quality of Benfica should prove enough for the Portuguese team to gain an advantage ahead of the second leg.
Verdict: Home win
Best odds: 23/20
Bookmaker: Betfair
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