Thursday, March 28, 2024

Predicton: Benfica vs Liverpool

Veselin Trajkovic in Free Soccer Predictions 4 Apr 2022

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Verdict: Away win by two or more goals

Best odds: 21/20

Bookmaker: 888sport

The Champions League continues this week with the first legs of the quarterfinals coming up. In Lisbon, Benfica will be welcoming Liverpool to the Estadio de Luz on Tuesday evening. At the same time, La Liga champions Atletico Madrid will be in Manchester, facing Premier League champions City at the Etihad.

Benfica

It’s been a season of mixed success for Benfica. Nelson Verissimo’s team are far behind FC Porto and city rivals Sporting in the Primeira Liga title race – whole 12 points separate them from Porto at the top, who also have a game in hand on them; nine from Sporting in second place.

But in the Champions League, the fact that Benfica have achieved great success by qualifying for the quarterfinals and putting themselves among the top eight teams on the continent cannot be disputed. Finishing second to Bayern Munich in a very difficult Group E, also featuring Spanish giants Barcelona and Ukrainian side Dynamo Kyiv, they managed to get past Dutch champions Ajax in the round of 16 to get where they are.

Benfica will most likely approach this encounter in good spirits, with nothing to lose but plenty to gain. They will most likely settle for an honorable exit from the competition at this stage, though they will surely do their best to pull a surprise on the six-time European champions.

Darwin Nunez is a player to watch for in this contest. The 24-year-old striker has been linked with Liverpool (and several other top clubs across Europe), and if he’s truly hoping to follow in the footsteps of former Porto winger Luis Diaz who arrived to Anfield this summer, he’ll be looking to impress against Liverpool’s formidable centre-backs.

Benfica’s last-six run in all competitions consists of a 3-0 home win over Vitoria Guimaraes, a 1-2 triumph away to Portimonense, a 1-1 draw at home against Vizela, a 0-1 win away to Ajax in the round of 16, a 2-1 win at home against Estoril Praia, and a 3-2 defeat away to Braga.

Team News

The season is already over for centre-back Lucas Verissimo and striker Rodrigo Pinho – both are out with ACL injuries. Midfielder Adel Taarabt is a doubt due to an adductor issue.

One of the most important aspects of this encounter is that centre-backs Nicolas Otamendi, formerly of Manchester City, and Jan Vertonghen, who used to play for Tottenham Hotspur, know this particular opponent well. Their experience will be crucial. At the other end, Nunes will likely be joined by Yaremchuk, with Everton and Rafa Silva supporting them from wide positions.

Liverpool

The Merseysiders got the extremely difficult and important month of April off to a good start, but the real challenges begin now. Benfica, Manchester City (Premier League), Benfica, Manchester City (FA Cup semifinals), Manchester United, Everton, Newcastle; that’s what Jurgen Klopp’s team face this month.

The Reds are currently second in the Premier League table, just one point off defending champions City at the top, and their clash at the Etihad at the end of the week will without a doubt have strong bearing on the title race. Everything has been leading up to that meeting, and though managers always say that they’re taking things one match at a time, Jurgen Klopp’s players will hardly be able to avoid keeping one eye on Sunday.

Not that it should be too much of a distraction; Liverpool are proven winners, especially under difficult conditions which these certainly are. Their recent form has been great, but not perfect. They lost one match, but as Klopp himself put it in his pre-match presser, that was probably the only match they could afford to lose.

In the Champions League, Liverpool walked easily through Group B, winning all six matches against Atletico Madrid, Porto and AC Milan, and disposed of Serie A champions Inter in the round of 16 after winning the first leg by 0-2.

Their last-six run includes a 1-0 home win over West Ham, the ultimately insignificant 0-1 defeat at home to Inter Milan, a 0-2 triumph away to Brighton and Hove Albion, a win by the same scoreline away to Arsenal, a 0-1 triumph away to Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup, and a 2-0 home win over relegation strugglers Watford a few days ago.

Team News

It’s not very often that it can be said, but Klopp will have the full squad at his disposal for this match. Trent Alexander-Arnold is back in full training after the problem which saw him miss the England duty during the last international break, as well as the Watford clash on Saturday.

In this situation, it’s hard to tell what exactly Klopp intends to do. He will want to keep his team as fresh as possible for the Manchester trip later, but Alisson Becker in goal and Virgil van Dijk are nailed-on to start. Joe Gomez, who deputized well for Alexander-Arnold against Watford, might be given another shot on the right defensive flank. Kostas Tsimikas will be hoping for the same thing on the left, with Andy Robertson still the first choice. In the middle of the park, there’s a large number of players to choose from, and Diaz will be looking to start against his former rivals in attack, possibly with Diogo Jota and Mohamed Salah.

Conclusion

Liverpool are obviously the favourites to win this match and eventually go through, and Klopp will surely want the whole tie settled as soon as possible. A two-goal lead ahead of the rematch at Anfield should prove enough.

Verdict: Away win by two or more goals

Best odds: 21/20

Bookmaker: 888sport

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Veselin Trajkovic


Vesko is a football writer that likes to observe the game for what it is, focusing on teams, players and their roles, formations, tactics, rather than stats. He follows the English Premier League closely, Liverpool FC in particular. His articles have been published on seven different football blogs.

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