S.L. Benfica welcome the visitors FC Porto in the Portuguese League Cup – Playoffs – Semi-finals. The match will be held on Tuesday, January 22nd, at the Estadio Municipal de Braga (Braga).
Any match between S.L. Benfica and FC Porto is the Portuguese O Classico. Over the years, these clubs top all national competitions. There are no changes in this campaign. The teams take the higher tiers in the league, and the Cup calendar provides for their meeting yet in the semi-final. Every head-to-head in the league counts a lot, as each match normally implies a fight for six points. Will the cup fixture differ anyhow? We don’t think so.
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This is a matter of prestige – the top teams cannot neglect any competition. The sides face a principle encounter tomorrow a loss in which will be long remembered. This is also a matter of ambitions – any trophy brings ambitions and much joy for fans. Teams’ supporters will enjoy any title. Benfica lead by a number of the cups won, but they don’t plan to lean back. Porto competed in two finals, but they did not celebrate a win so far. The taste of loss follows them, so they look to forget it by gaining new victories.
The highflyers’ clashes normally see a minimum number of goals – this is the classic outcome. The sides rush forward until there is a goal after which it is too difficult to unlock the opponent’s defense. There are only exceptions in dead rubber matches. In this run, Benfica surpassed Porto in the league, 1:0, the clash of Sporting Lisbon and Porto saw no goals, and the meeting of Benfica and Sporting Lisbon ended level, 1:1. The trend persists, and there are no grounds for changes. This season Benfica upset the fans with their inconsistent run. The team failed in the Champions League group wherein they competed against Bayern Munich, Ajax, and AEK. Opposing outsiders is fine for Benfica, but in the encounters with serious opponents, issues arise. Only in their home meeting with Ajax, Benfica managed to draw, 1:1. Note their losses to Belenenses, 2:0, Moreirense, 1:3, and Portimonense, 2:0. Porto, who lost to Vitoria de Guimaraes, 2:3, and Benfica, 1:0, at the start of the campaign, got mad at the whole world – the streak of eighteen wins in all competitions made it all clear. Only Sporting Lisbon could stop the bloodshed. Porto progressed to the next cup stage in the extra-time only. It might have seemed that the train went off the rails, but Porto’s win over Chaves, 1:4, settled any doubts. Сhess heavyweights rarely give much freedom to act to each other. They take away the opponent’s best qualities in order to calm them down. There is no doubt as for the number of goals in the coming O Classico. The only question is when the juggernauts start shipping the goals. The cup semi-final is not the best moment for this, as we see it.
Prediction for the match: Under 2.5 goals.
