Benfica take on the visitors Barcelona in the round 7 match of UEFA Champions League group stage. The match will be played on Tuesday, January 21st at Estádio da Luz (Lisbon).
"Benfica" under Roger Schmidt showed themselves well in the season before last, winning the Primeira Liga. But they failed to keep the trophy - in the next draw, the neighboring "Sporting" won the hard-fought race. The German was left in office due to his past achievements, but he did not justify the trust, and at the start of the new cycle, after the first misfires, he was replaced by Bruno Lage. Under him, there is the usual struggle with "Porto" and "Sporting", where the chances are approximately equal so far. What they definitely did was win the title, the League Cup: Trubin defeated the "lions" in a penalty shootout. In the Champions League, the "red-whites" started with victories, over "Crvena Zvezda" in Belgrade and at home with "Atletico" (moreover, 4-0). But then there were defeats to Feyenoord and Bayern, and after a 3-2 victory over Monaco, they limited themselves to a draw with the failing debutant, Bologna.
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Barcelona is trying to return to the top. The Blue Garnets did not win a single title last season. And yet, Laporta removed Xavi from the coaching post, inviting Flick to Catalonia. Under Hansi, there was a powerful start, and they crushed Real in Madrid. It seemed that the intrigue was killed, but in November-December, the Cules lost their leadership with a terrible failure, letting in both the Galacticos and Atletico. Now, however, it has been possible to clearly state that the problems are behind us: in the Super Cup, they took the trophy, beating Athletic 2-0 and beating the Royal Club 5-2 in the new El Clasico. In the Champions League, on the contrary, they started with a loss in the minority in Monaco. But then they won all 5 subsequent matches, including a 4-1 defeat of an old and very difficult opponent, Bayern.
In total, they played 8 head-to-head matches, and the Catalans won three times with only one defeat. But now the Eagles have not lost to their high-status neighbor three times. We will still believe that Flick has seriously worked on his mistakes. We are expecting a victory here in Lisbon for Yamal and company.
Prediction for the match: Barcelona to win.
