Benfica vs. Monaco: Prediction, Preview & Betting Tips

Having already beaten Monaco twice in the last three months, Benfica are hot favourites to make it three from three here. They come into this one with five wins from their last five games, while Monaco are winless in their last six games away from home, losing five of those. Benfica 2-1 Monaco.

It’s advantage Benfica as we go to Lisbon for the second leg of their Champions League tie with Monaco.

• Date: 18/02/2025
• Kick-off time: 20:00
• Location: Estádio da Luz, Lisbon

The Portuguese giants claimed a fine 1-0 win in Monaco in the first leg as Vangelis Pavlidis’ goal early in the second half proved to be the difference between the two teams. There might be some disappointment in the Benfica camp that the scoreline did not become wider, as Monaco were reduced to ten men shortly after Pavlidis’ goal, but the result remains an excellent one regardless, and they’re now hot favourites to progress to the next round.

Benfica have claimed some very good results in this competition this season, hammering Atlético Madrid 4-0 while also winning 2-0 in Turin against Juventus. Benfica also played Monaco in the group phase and ran out 3-2 winners away from home, so they’re attempting to beat the Ligue 1 side for the third time in the space of three months. The fact they’ve already beaten Monaco twice suggests there’s a stylistic dynamic between the two sides that favours Benfica, and their chances of going through are extremely strong.

Benfica are having a strong season domestically too, where they sit only two points behind Sporting CP in the Primera Liga in 2nd place. Having won only one league title from the last five available, Benfica will feel as though they’ve been below the expected club standards, but they’re looking as strong as they’ve looked for quite some time this season and could potentially achieve something special.

A draw will be enough to see them through to the last 16 this week, and it’s hard to find a reason why they shouldn’t be favoured to book their place in the next round.

Monaco will likely still be kicking themselves over their performance in the first leg of this tie. To come away from the home leg without scoring a goal against a side of a similar quality is extremely disappointing. Yes, the red card had an impact, but they were already 0-1 down at that point and may have lost the game anyway when looking at the direction things were heading.

After a good start to their Champions League campaign that saw them take seven points from their first four games, including a win over Barcelona, Monaco lost three of their final four games, including heavy defeats against Arsenal and Inter. Having also lost to Benfica last week, they’ve now lost four of their last five games in this competition.

The Ligue 1 side are doing well in their domestic league and have their eyes set on a top two finish, so they’ll be very disappointed to now be on the verge of exiting the Champions League at the first knockout hurdle. They can, though, take some hope from the form of January signing Mika Biereth. The former Arsenal academy graduate has seven goals in five league games since signing for the club and looks as though he’s set to have a huge impact on the team.

Biereth and Co. will need to be at the top of their game if they want to turn this tie around, and they’ll likely have to strike early in an attempt to unsettle what is usually a raucous home crowd.

This game will be televised live to all subscribed UK viewers on TNT Sports 2.

Benfica Team News:

The Portuguese side will be unable to call upon Florentino, who is unavailable through suspension, while Ángel Di María, Tomás Araújo, Alexander Bah, Fredrik Aursnes, Manu Silva, and Renato Sanches are all out injured.

Amidst those injuries and suspensions, Leandro Santos, Zeki Amdouni and Arthur Cabral will all be vying for a place in the starting XI.

Predicted lineup: Trubin; Santos, Otamendi, Silva, Carreras; Amdouni, Kökçü, Barreiro, Aktürkoğlu; Pavlidis, Cabral.

Monaco Team News:

The visitors will be without Denis Zakaria, Al-Musrati and Vanderson, all of whom are unavailable through suspension.

Christian Mawissa, though, is available once again after serving a ban, but Aleksandr Golovin is out injured alongside Jordan Teze and Folarin Balogun.

Predicted lineup: Majecki; Kehrer, Salisu, Mawissa, Henrique; Camara, Coulibaly; Akliouche, Ben Seghir, Minamino; Biereth.

Benfica:

Benfica come into this game in excellent form, with five wins from their last five games. At the weekend, Benfica ran out 1-0 winners away at Santa Clara thanks to a goal from Bruma, which came after the 1-0 win over Monaco last week.

Before that, Benfica beat Moreirense 3-2 thanks to a Vangelis Pavlidis brace and a goal from Nicolás Otamendi, which came after another 3-2 win over Estrela - with the goals coming from Otamendi, Pavlidis and an own goal - and a 2-0 win away at Juventus, courtesy of Pavlidis and Orkun Kökçü.

Monaco:

Monaco enter this game with three wins and two defeats from their last five games. Last time out, the Ligue 1 side hammered Nantes 7-1 courtesy of goals from Mika Biereth (X3), Takumi Minamino, Eliesse Ben Seghir and George Ilenikhena (X2).

Before that, they were beaten 0-1 by Benfica, which came after a 4-1 battering away at PSG, a 4-2 win over Auxerre - with the goals coming from Thilo Kehrer and a Mika Biereth hat-trick - and a 3-0 loss away at Inter Milan.

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