Benfica hosts Barcelona at Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica in the first leg of their Round of 16 Champions League tie.
Date: 05/03/2025
Location: Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica
Time: 8pm
As previously mentioned, this is the second time that these two sides have met this campaign, with the first head-to-head clash resulting in a 5-4 victory for Barca, as goals in the last 12 minutes from Robert Lewandowski, Eric Garcia and Raphinha saw them comeback from 4-2 down to win the match in dramatic fashion.
Benfica, who are coached by ex-Wolves manager Bruno Lage sit second in Liga NOS with 53 points from 23 matches and trail league leaders Sporting Lisbon on goal difference.
Meanwhile, in terms of domestic cups, they managed to beat Sporting 7-6 on penalties in the final of the Taca da Liga after a 1-1 draw, while in the Taca de Portugal, they will face Tirsene in the semi-finals after progressing past Braga (1-0), Firenze (3-1), Estrela da Amadora (7-0) and Pevidem (2-0).
In terms of their Champions League campaign, Benfica scraped past Ligue 1 outfit AS Monaco 4-3 on aggregate in the Round of 32 after finishing 16th in the Champions League Group Stage with 13 points from eight matches, following wins against Red Star Belgrade (2-1), Atlético Madrid (4-0), AS Monaco (3-2) and Juventus (2-0), while drawing with Bologna (0-0) and suffering defeats to Feyenoord (3-1), Bayern Munich (1-0) and Barcelona (5-4).
Barcelona finished second in the Champions League Group Stage as they accumulated 19 points from eight matches despite losing 2-1 to AS Monaco on matchday one. Following that game, Hansi Flick’s side went on to beat Young Boys (5-0), Bayern Munich (4-1), Red Star Belgrade (5-2), Brest (3-0), Borussia Dortmund (3-2) and Benfica (5-4) while drawing with Atalanta 2-2 on matchday eight.
La Blaugrana are going strong in La Liga, as they lead the way with 57 points from 26 matches, seeing them sit one point clear of Atlético Madrid and four ahead of Real Madrid.
Flick’s side managed to win the Supercopa de España as they thrashed Real 5-2 in the final, while in the Copa del Rey, they are in a semi-final battle with Atlético Madrid, having drawn the home leg of that tie 4-4. In previous rounds, Barcelona defeated the likes of Valencia 5-0, Real Betis 5-1 and Barbastro 4-0.