With a lot to live up to following a nine-goal extravaganza in the league phase, Benfica and Barcelona cross paths once again on Wednesday night in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 battle at the Estadio da Luz.
The Portuguese giants eked out a 4-3 aggregate success over Monaco in the playoffs to earn another date with the Blaugrana, who were only out-performed by Liverpool in the first stage.
Match preview
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Long overdue another slice of European stardom 10 years after their most recent run to Champions League glory, Barcelona fans could be forgiven for already having the Munich final in their sights, having been placed on the opposite side of the draw to all of Liverpool, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain.
Hansi Flick's men may still have to battle past one of Bayern Munich or Inter Milan to earn a date with destiny, but they made several statements of intent during the league phase, recovering from an opening loss to Monaco to take 19 points from the next 21 on offer.
Trumping every other team in an attacking sense, La Blaugrana notched an unparalleled 28 goals in their eight league phase games - Borussia Dortmund were a far second with 22 - as the La Liga title challengers scored at least twice in each of their final seven league phase battles.
Also finding the back of the net for fun domestically, Barcelona followed up an enthralling 4-4 Copa del Rey semi-final first-leg draw with Atletico Madrid with a 4-0 demolition of Real Sociedad on Sunday, rising back to the top of the La Liga standings in the process.
Still unbeaten in 2025, the four-goal thrashing of Real Sociedad marked La Blaugrana's 15th consecutive game without defeat across all competitions, and they have bagged multiple goals in 11 of their last 12 matches away from their temporary Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys home.
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As Barcelona rode off into the top-eight sunset, Iberian foes Benfica sneaked into the seeded playoff places with a 16th-placed league phase finish, thus earning a playoff date with a Monaco side who wound up just one spot worse off on the same number of points.
The clashes were about as closely-contested as the league phase rankings would suggest, but after coming up trumps 1-0 away from home thanks to a Vangelis Pavlidis effort, the Eagles fought back from 2-1 and 3-2 down in the second leg to just about advance following a six-goal stalemate.
That engrossing 3-3 draw with Monaco marked the first of five straight home matches for Bruno Lage's side, who are now level on points with Sporting Lisbon at the top of the Primeira Liga table and are into the semi-finals of the Taca de Portugal thanks to a 1-0 win over Braga on February 26.
Hitting a rich vein of form at the perfect time, the two-time European Cup winners have seven wins and a draw on their record from their last eight matches across all competitions and are almost always good entertainment value in the Champions League, as their 10 games in this season's competition have seen a whopping 35 goals.
Nine of those strikes came in an absorbing league phase showdown with Barcelona on January 21, where the Blaugrana edged a frenetic battle 5-4, the only time in 40 games that Benfica had failed to win a European home match in which they scored at least four goals.
Team News
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Barcelona boss Flick revealed that former Golden Boy Gavi would have started against Real Sociedad had he not been struck down by an illness, but the Spain international should be given the green light to return on Wednesday, having travelled with the team.
However, the luckless Andreas Christensen has suffered a new calf injury and is expected to be sidelined for around four weeks, while Marc Bernal and Marc-Andre ter Stegen are both on the way back from serious knee injuries.
Linking arms with Robert Lewandowski and Lamine Yamal in a fearsome front three, Raphinha is chasing down a national record; his 12 direct goal involvements in the 2024-25 Champions League is the third-most for a Brazilian player in a single edition of the tournament after Roberto Firmino (17 in 2017-18) and Kaka (13 in 2006-07).
As far as Benfica are concerned, Lage would have midfield fulcrum Florentino back from a Champions League ban for the first leg, but the 25-year-old suffered a thigh injury in the middle of February and is set to sit out the visit of Barca.
Florentino is joined in the treatment room by ACL victims Alexander Bah and Manu Silva, Tiago Gouveia (knee) and former Real Madrid winger Angel Di Maria (muscle), but Bruma is back from a three-game ban carried over from the Europa League, when he was sent off for Braga against Union Saint-Gilloise.
With Di Maria absent, the attacking responsibility falls onto the shoulders of the prolific Pavlidis, who scored a hat-trick in Benfica's 5-4 loss to Barcelona in the league phase and is already on nine goal involvements for the 2024-25 tournament, seven of his own and two assists.
Benfica possible starting lineup:
Trubin; Araujo, Otamendi, Silva, Carreras; Kokcu, Barreiro, Aursnes; Akturkoglu, Pavlidis, Bruma
Barcelona possible starting lineup:
Szczesny; Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde; Pedri, De Jong; Yamal, Gavi, Raphinha; Lewandowski
We say: Benfica 1-3 Barcelona
Another nine-goal classic is surely off the cards, but do not expect a lack of goalmouth action between a ruthless Barcelona side and a Benfica crop boasting one of the tournament's most lethal attackers in Pavlidis.
What should be an entertaining watch for the neutrals should be an even better watch for fans of Barcelona, as Flick's fearsome attackers have our vote to overwhelm their Portuguese hosts and earn a healthy first-leg lead.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Ben Knapton
