Benfica welcome Liverpool to Estadio da Luz in the first leg of their Quarter-Final tie in 2021-22 UEFA Champions League.
Benfica qualified for this stage after scraping past Ajax in the Round of 16, whereas Liverpool beat Inter Milan to advance to this round.
Team News
Benfica have no fresh injury concerns to report after their defeat at Braga last Friday evening as Rodrigo Pinho and Lucas Verissimo remain absent with muscle injuries.
Liverpool could be without Curtis Jones after he suffered an ankle injury in Saturday’s Premier League win against Watford.
Joel Matip (knock) and Naby Keita (knee) could also be available for selection, alongside Sadio Mane, Luis Diaz and Trent Alexander-Arnold after the trio were rested on Saturday.
Stat Attack
- Benfica have won three of eight previous meetings against Liverpool in UEFA’s premier competition including when formerly known as European Cup (W3, L5).
- Liverpool have won two of their four previous visits to Benfica under both iterations of this competition (W2, L2).
- Liverpool have managed to keep only one clean sheet in ten previous meetings against Benfica in all competitions.
- Roman Yaremchuk has scored in each of Benfica’s last two home matches in the Champions League this season (W1, D1).
- Mohamed Salah has scored six goals in four away Champions League matches this season for Liverpool (W4).
Prediction
Having seen their ten match unbeaten run in all competitions ended at Braga on Friday evening during which they only kept two clean sheets, Benfica now face a difficult task where their defence needs to be at their best against a well-drilled Liverpool team.
Jurgen Klopp’s Reds though will be at full strength if Alexander-Arnold, Diaz and Mane all return to the starting line-up, although I would like to see Liverpool deliver a more clinical performance because they’ve snatched scruffy wins in their last two matches.
Do that then I can just see one result coming but Benfica do have an in-form striker in Darwin Nunez who could be a huge issue if he is given time and space on the ball around Liverpool’s box, so a draw would be a solid result but I am still going for an away win.
Prediction: Benfica 1-2 Liverpool
Result: Benfica 1-3 Liverpool