Barcelona vs Benfica Predictions

Benfica are down by a goal coming in for the second leg. Barcelona might go on to win the second leg as well to proceed to the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals.

Match info: UEFA Champions League

Venue: Estadio Olimpico Lluis Companys, Catalonia

Date: Tuesday, 11^th March 2025

Time: 6:45 pm Nigerian time

Barcelona will look to defend a narrow first-leg lead when they welcome Portuguese giants Benfica to Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys for Tuesday's return leg of their Champions League last-16 clash.

The Blaugrana are looking to reach the quarter-finals in back-to-back Champions League campaigns, while the visitors want to advance to the last eight for the third time in four seasons.

Head-to-head:

• Benfica have won 2 of the 11 UEFA Champions League meetings between the two teams.
• Barcelona recorded 5 victories.
• The remaining 4 clashes ended in draws.
• The first leg ended 1-0 in favour of 10-man Barcelona
• They met in the group phase, and Barcelona won 5-4.
• Their group phase game was their only encounter without a clean sheet.
• All their draws were goalless.
• The Blaugrana have only lost one of their last 10 games against Benfica in European competition.
• Benfica have been eliminated on five of the previous six occasions when listing the first leg of a UCL knockout stage tie.

Form:

• Barcelona in the Champions League: W-W-W-D-W
• Barcelona in all competitions: W-W-D-W-W
• Benfica in the Champions League: L-W-W-D-L
• Benfica in all competitions: D-W-W-L-W

Team News:

• Pau Cubarsi received a red card in the previous UCL fixture and will not be a part of Barcelona’s squad. Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Marc Bernal, and Andreas Christensen are injured.
• Benfica will be without the services of Angel Di Maria, Alexander Bah, Manu Silva, and Tiago Gouveia as they have injuries.

Player(s) to watch:

• Raphinha has an equal amount of goals to Robert Lewandowski in the Champions League this season. Raphinha has scored nine goals in nine matches in the UCL this season. He is going to be a menace for Benfica’s defenders as he knows how to find spaces and score goals.
• Vangelis Pavlidis has scored seven goals in 11 UCL matches for Benfica this season and is the top goal-getter for them in the European competition. The Greece forward will have to step up and help his side in the attacking front to score a goal or two. Benfica and Pavlidis will be under pressure as the hosts are leading by a goal.