Benfica vs Barcelona Prediction, Preview & Betting Tips

Benfica versus Barcelona promises to be a goal-fest if their last head-to-head clash in January is anything to go off, as Hansi Flick’s men secured a dramatic 5-4 win at Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica, a game which saw in-form players such as Vangelis Pavlidis fire in a first half hat-trick, while Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha both scored braces.

Barcelona have scored goals at an impressive rate of knots in the Champions League this campaign, having fired in 28 goals in eight matches, an average of 3.5 goals per game, while in the Group Stage, Benfica averaged two goals per game as they scored 16 times in eight matches.

For those reasons, we predict that this game will be another high-scoring affair, with Barcelona emerging as 3-2 victors.

A player to lookout for here is ex-Leeds United winger Raphinha, as the 28-year-old has scored 24 times and created 18 assists across 39 matches in all competitions, seeing him priced at 4/6 to score or assist in this game.

Prediction: Benfica 2-3 Barcelona

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.

Benfica versus Barcelona will be available to UK Subscribers of TNT Sports 3 and Discovery+.

Benfica

Alexander Bah, Florentino, Manu, Renato Sanches and Ángel Di María are all likely to miss out on Benfica’s home match against Barcelona.

Barcelona

Marc-André ter Stegen, Andreas Christensen and Ansu Fati are all set to be absent from Barcelona’s trip to Lisbon.

Benfica

Benfica enter this match having won four of their last five matches, with the anomaly being their 3-3 home draw against AS Monaco that resulted in a 4-3 aggregate victory over the Ligue 1 side.

In terms of domestic form, Bruno Lage’s side have beaten the likes of Santa Clara (1-0), Boavista (3-0) and Sporting Braga (1-0) as Pavlidis scored the only goal of the game in their cup quarter-final victory.

Barcelona

Away from Barcelona’s 4-4 home draw with Atlético Madrid in the Copa del Rey, they have won four of their last five matches.

Flick’s men have thrashed the likes of Sevilla (4-1) and Real Sociedad (4-0) on either side of victories against Rayo Vallecano (1-0) and Las Palmas (2-0) with Dani Olmo and Ferran Torres scoring second half goals against the latter mentioned opponents.

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