Estadio da Luz (Lisbon)
Benfica take on Barcelona in the second round of the Champions League group stage at home. Good results have characterized the Catalan club’s recent games in the tournament. Should we expect many goals?
Benfica
In the first round of the Champions League group stage, Benfica traveled to Kyiv to meet with Dynamo. In this encounter, the teams did not demonstrate any performance and parted peacefully. After that meeting, the Lisbon club managed to play two matches in the Portuguese championship. Benfica got a more decisive home game against Boavista and an away game against Vitoria Guimaraes. Both matches ended in the same 3-1 draw. The Eagles are in the lead in the Portuguese league.
Barcelona
On Matchday 1 of the UEFA Champions League group stage, Barcelona played at home against Bayern. Barcelona were unable to compete with the Munich club and suffered a devastating 0-3 defeat. They are currently last in their group. As for their performance in La Liga, after the draws against Granada and Cadiz, Barcelona thrashed Levante 3-0 at home. Barça are sixth in the Spanish table.
Expert Betting Tips
For the first time since 1997-98, Barça suffered a defeat in the first round of the UEFA Champions League group stage. For the first time since the 2003-04 season, the Catalan club did not have a single shot on target in a Champions League match. The club is going through a difficult time, and the upcoming trip to Lisbon could be extremely difficult for the Catalans. This season, Benfica have been solid and consistent so far. I expect that the home team will be able to create some problems for Barcelona. The last head-to-head encounters between Benfica and Barcelona did not produce many goalscoring performances. I believe that this streak will be broken in the upcoming match at the Da Luz stadium. As the main bet, I suggest considering Total Over 2.5 goals.
- Total Over (2.5) goals for 1.71;
- Benfica to score in the first half for 2.06.